'*&  WVW&r$6&!ri 


EEVELATION  AND  INSPIKATION 


REVELATION 
AND    INSPIRATION 


BY 

JAMES    ORR,  M.A.,  D.D. 

PROFESSOR   OF    APOLOGETICS   AND   SYSTEMATIC   THEOLOGY 
IN    THE   UNITED    FREE   CHURCH   COLLEGE,    GLASGOW 


i 


NEW    YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

1910 


Dia 


u 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION 
TO  THE  SERIES 

Man  has  no  deeper  or  wider  interest  than  theology ; 
none  deeper,  for  however  much  he  may  change,  he 
never  loses  his  love  of  the  many  questions  it  covers ; 
and  none  wider,  for  under  whatever  law  he  may  live 
he  never  escapes  from  its  spacious  shade ;  nor  does 
he  ever  find  that  it  speaks  to  him  in  vain  or  uses  a 
voice  that  fails  to  reach  him.  Once  the  present 
writer  was  talking  with  a  friend  who  has  equal  fame 
as  a  statesman  and  a  man  of  letters,  and  he  said, 
"Every  day  I  live,  Politics,  which  are  affairs  of 
Man  and  Time,  interest  me  less,  while  Theology, 
which  is  an  affair  of  God  and  Eternity,  interests  me 
more."  As  with  him,  so  with  many,  though  the  many 
feel  that  their  interest  is  in  theology  and  not  in  dogma. 
Dogma,  they  know,  is  but  a  series  of  resolutions 
framed  by  a  council  or  parliament,  which  they  do 
not  respect  any  the  more  because  the  parliament  was 
composed  of  ecclesiastically-minded  persons ;  while  the 
theology  which  so  interests  them  is  a  discourse  touching 
God,  though  the  Being  so  named  is  the  God  man  con- 
ceived as  not  only  related  to  himself  and  his  world  but 
also  as  rising  ever  higher  with  the  notions  of  the  self  and 
the  world.  Wise  books,  not  in  dogma  but  in  theology, 
may  therefore  be  described  as  the  supreme  need  of  our 


c*%r\  m  /n./T  i  \ 


vi  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION 

day,  for  only  such  can  save  us  from  much  fanaticism 
and  secure  us  in  the  full  possession  of  a  sober  and 
sane  reason. 

Theology  is  less  a  single  science  than  an  ency- 
clopaedia of  sciences  ;  indeed  all  the  sciences  which 
have  to  do  with  man  have  a  better  right  to  be  called 
theological  than  anthropological,  though  the  man  it 
studies  is  not  simply  an  individual  but  a  race.  Its 
way  of  viewing  man  is  indeed  characteristic;  from 
this  have  come  some  of  its  brighter  ideals  and  some  of 
its  darkest  dreams.  The  ideals  are  all  either  ethical 
or  social,  and  would  make  of  earth  a  heaven,  creating 
fraternity  amongst  men  and  forming  all  states  into  a 
goodly  sisterhood  ;  the  dreams  may  be  represented  by 
doctrines  which  concern  sin  on  the  one  side  and  the 
will  of  God  on  the  other.  But  even  this  will  cannot 
make  sin  luminous,  for  were  it  made  radiant  with 
grace,  it  would  cease  to  be  sin. 

These  books  then, — which  have  all  to  be  written  by 
men  who  have  lived  in  the  full  blaze  of  modern  light, 
— though  without  having  either  their  eyes  burned 
out  or  their  souls  scorched  into  insensibility, — are  in- 
tended to  present  God  in  relation  to  Man  and  Man 
in  relation  to  God.  It  is  intended  that  they  begin,  not 
in  date  of  publication,  but  in  order  of  thought,  with  a 
Theological  Encyclopaedia  which  shall  show  the  circle 
of  sciences  co-ordinated  under  the  term  Theology, 
though  all  will  be  viewed  as  related  to  its  central  or 
main  idea.  This  relation  of  God  to  human  know- 
ledge will  then  be  looked  at  through  mind  as  a  com- 
munion of  Deity  with  humanity,  or  God  in  fellowship 
with  concrete  man.     On  this  basis  the  idea  of  Revela- 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  rii 

tion  will  be  dealt  with.  Then,  so  far  as  history  and 
philology  are  concerned,  the  two  Sacred  Books,  which 
are  here  most  significant,  will  be  viewed  as  the  scholar, 
who  is  also  a  divine,  views  them ;  in  other  words, 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  regarded  as  human 
documents,  will  be  criticised  as  a  literature  which 
expresses  relations  to  both  the  present  and  the  future  ; 
that  is,  to  the  men  and  races  who  made  the  books, 
as  well  as  to  the  races  and  men  the  books  made. 
The  Bible  will  thus  be  studied  in  the  Semitic  family 
which  gave  it  being,  and  also  in  the  Indo-European 
families  which  gave  to  it  the  quality  of  the  life  to 
which  they  have  attained.  But  Theology  has  to  do 
with  more  than  sacred  literature;  it  has  also  to  do 
with  the  thoughts  and  life  its  history  occasioned. 
Therefore  the  Church  has  to  be  studied  and  presented 
as  an  institution  which  God  founded  and  man  ad- 
ministers. But  it  is  possible  to  know  this  Church 
only  through  the  thoughts  it  thinks,  the  doctrines 
it  holds,  the  characters  and  the  persons  it  forms,  the 
people  who  are  its  saints  and  embody  its  ideals  of 
sanctity,  the  acts  it  does,  which  are  its  sacraments,  and 
the  laws  it  follows  and  enforces  which  are  its  polity, 
and  the  young  it  educates  and  the  nations  it  directs 
and  controls.  These  are  the  points  to  be  presented  in 
the  volumes  which  follow,  which  are  all  to  be  occupied 
with  theology  or  the  knowledge  of  God  and  His 
ways. 

A.  M.  F. 
"0" 


PREFACE 

This  volume  is  written  under  the  conviction  that 
revelation  and  inspiration,  in  connection  with  the 
Bible,  can  only  be  defended  in  conjunction  with  a 
more  positive  view  of  the  structure  of  the  Bible  itself 
than  is  at  present  prevalent.  The  three  things  imply 
each  other — a  positive  view  of  the  structure  of  the 
Bible,  the  recognition  of  a  true  supernatural  revela- 
tion in  its  history,  and  a  belief,  in  accordance  with 
the  teaching  of  Christ  and  His  apostles,  in  the  in- 
spiration of  the  record.  The  evidence  for  each  of 
these  three  things  yields  support  to  faith  in  the 
other  two.  The  critical  appreciation  of  the  Bible  is 
helped  by  the  recognition  of  the  revelation  contained 
in  it,  and  of  the  character  of  inspiration  attaching 
to  the  book  which  is  the  vehicle  of  the  revelation. 
The  revelation  sustains  faith  in  inspiration,  and  vice 
versa.  From  the  unity  of  the  three  aspects  results 
the  conception  of  a  Holy  Scripture. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 


PAGE 


REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION    IN    CURRENT  THOUGHT — 

MODERN    STANDPOINTS 1 


Jj 


CHAPTER  II 

NATURALISTIC     SCHEMES    OF     REVELATION — SCOPE    AND 

LIMITS    OF    NATURAL    REVELATION,  ...         26 

CHAPTER  III 

NEED    OF  SPECIAL    REVELATION — BIBLICAL    AND    ETHNIC 

REVELATION,    ........  46 

CHAPTER  IV 

REVELATION  AND  HISTORY—  FORMS  OF  SPECIAL  REVELA- 
TION,          67 

CHAPTER  V 

FORMS  OF  REVELATION  (CONTINUED)  :   PROPHECY — DIFFI- 
CULTIES  OF    REVELATION, 88 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE   ELEMENT   OF   MIRACLE   IN    REVELATION,  .  .      109 


xii  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  VII 

JESUS  CHRIST — THE  SUPREME  REVEALER  AND  SUPREME 

MIRACLE, 131 

CHAPTER  VIII 

REVELATION    AND    ITS    RECORD — INSPIRATION,  .  .       155 

CHAPTER  IX 

INSPIRATION — THE   SCRIPTURAL  CLAIMS,  .  .  .      175 

CHAPTER  X 

INSPIRATION  —  RESULTS      FOR       DOCTRINE       OF       HOLT 

SCRIPTURE,        ........      197 

BIBLIOGRAPHY, 219 

INDEX, 221 


EEVELATION    AND    INSPIRATION 


CHAPTER  I 

REVELATION   AND   INSPIRATION   IN   CURRENT 
THOUGHT— MODERN   STANDPOINTS 

There  is  perhaps  no  subject  at  the  present  moment 
more  difficult  to  write  upon,  and  above  all  to  write 
upon  wisely,  than  this  of  Revelation  and  Inspiration. 
Have  we  an  authoritative  divine  revelation  in  the 
Bible  ?  Is  the  Bible  itself,  in  a  unique  and  special 
sense,  an  inspired  book  ?  What  are  the  limits  of 
this  inspiration,  and  how  does  it  differ  from  the 
inspiration  we  ascribe  to  poets  and  other  men  of 
genius  ?  Or  is  there  a  difference  of  kind  at  all  ? 
The  many  able  books  which  have  recently  been 
written  on  this  subject  probably  help  more  to 
reveal  the  difficulties  connected  with  it  than  to 
furnish  a  practical  and  satisfactory  solution  of  these 
difficulties.  Where  others  have  come  short,  it  is  not 
easy  to  hope  that  the  present  writer  will  succeed. 

It  may  be  a  useful  opening  of  the  inquiry  to 
investigate  at  the  outset  some  of  the  various  senses 
in  which  the  terms  Revelation  and  Inspiration, 
with  which  we  are  to  be  occupied,  are  employed, 
and  the  relations  in  which  the  ideas  they  represent 
stand  to  the  general  thought  of  the  age. 

A 


2  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

I.  Revelation  and  Religion. 

It  is  customary  to  speak  of  the  decay  of  faith  in 
divine  revelation,  and  in  the  sense  intended,  such  a 
weakening  of  faith  must  be  acknowledged.  In  a 
wider  respect,  there  is  probably  no  proposition  on 
which  the  higher  religious  philosophy  of  the  past 
hundred  years  is  more  agreed  than  this — that  all 
religion  originates  in  revelation.  Man  can  know 
God  only  as,  in  some  way,  God  reveals,  or  makes 
Himself  known,  to  man.1  The  questions  on  which 
division  arises  are — What  is  the  nature  or  manner 
of  this  revelation  ?  How  is  it  brought  about  ?  Is 
it  natural  simply,  or  is  it  also  supernatural  ?  And 
what  do  these  terms — '  natural  '  and  '  supernatural ' 
— in  this  connection  themselves  import  ? 

1.  It  is  indeed  singular  to  observe  the  fascination 
which  this  idea  of  revelation  (Offenbarung)  has  for 
thinkers  of  all  schools  in  the  later  philosophy  of 
religion.  This  is  specially  the  case  in  Germany — the 
country  from  which  most  of  the  newer  impulses 
which  have  entered  theology  have  proceeded.  In 
Fichte,  and  Schelling,  and  Hegel ;  in  Schleiermacher 
and  Rothe ;  in  speculative  theologians  like 
Biedermann  and  Pfleiderer ;  in  Old  Testament 
critical  scholars  like  Schultz  and  Smend ;  in 
theologians  of  positive  type  like  Dorner ;  in  the 
newer  theology  of  Ritschl,  the  idea  of  God  as 
self-revealing,  and  of  religion,  including  of  course 
Christianity,  as  resting  on  revelation,  may  be  said 
to  be  fundamental.  Even  where,  as  in  Hegel,  or  in 
the  earlier  phases  of  Schleiermacher's  thinking,  God 

»  Cf.  e.g.  Pfleiderer,  Phil,  of  Rel.  iii.  pp.  46  ff.  (E.T.) ;  Dorner, 
System  of  Bod.  ii.  pp.  133  ff.  (E.T.). 


l]  revelation  AND  INSPIRATION  3 

is  more  or  less  pantheistically  conceived,  a  foremost 
place  is  given  to  this  idea.  In  Hegel,  it  is  of  the 
essence  of  spirit  to  reveal  itself,  and  Christianity, 
as  the  religion  in  which  God  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  Himself  become  one  in  man — in  which 
Spirit  rises  to  the  consciousness  of  identity  with 
itself — is  the  Absolute  or  '  Revealed  '  religion.1 

2.  As  springing  from  this  tendency  to  recognise 
revelation  as  everywhere  the  basis  of  religion,  is 
next  to  be  noted,  in  connection  with  the  prominence 
now  given  to  the  comparative  study  of  religion,  the 
rise  of  a  disposition  to  extend  the  idea  of  revelation 
to  all  the  forms  of  historical  religion,  and  to  regard 
these  as  simply  more  or  less  perfect  stages  in  an 
ascent  of  which  the  religion  of  Israel,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  this  into  Christianity,  form,  thus  far,  the 
summit.  This,  as  will  be  seen  after,  is  a  special 
feature  in  the  new  '  religious-historical '  way  of 
contemplating  the  spiritual  development  of  man- 
kind. Distinction,  naturally,  is  made  between 
higher  and  lower,  cruder  and  more  intelligent, 
grosser  and  more  spiritual,  types  of  religion  ;  but 
no  absolute  line,  it  is  held,  can  be  drawn  by  the 
historical  investigator  between  '  revealed '  and 
'  non-revealed '   religions.     All   must  be  viewed  as 

1  Cf.  Hegel,  Religionsphilosophie,  ii.  pp.  191  ff.  Schelling  has  his 
two  volumes  of  the  Philosophie  der  Offenbarung. 

A  curious  illustration  of  the  persistence  and  influence  of  this  idea 
is  afforded  by  the  pessimist  Von  Hartmann,  the  philosopher  of  '  The 
Unconscious,'  who  takes  over  into  his  Philosophy  of  Religion  the 
whole  nomenclature  of  Christianity,  descanting  among  other  things 
on  'Grace  and  Faith,'  'The  Grace  of  Revelation  and  Intellectual 
Faith'  {Die  Religion  des  Geistes,  pp.  64,  74  ff.).  Among  the  sub- 
headings are  'External  and  Inner  Revelation,'  'Traditional  and 
Personal  Revelation,'  'The  Originality  of  Revelation,'  'The  Truth  of 
Revelation,'  etc. 


4  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

stages  in  the  general  upward  movement  of  the 
human  spirit  under  the  impulse  of  the  divine  Spirit. 
To  this  advance  everv  factor  in  the  culture  of 
humanity  contributes.1  It  is  at  the  same  time 
significant  that  even  among  those  whose  general 
sympathies  are  with  this  standpoint,  a  tendency 
is  manifest  to  claim  for  the  religions  of  Israel  and 
Christ,  in  a  peculiar  sense,  the  designation  of  religions 
of  '  revelation.'  Gunkel,  a  sufficiently  radical 
Old  Testament  critic,  yet  writes,  '  Israel  is,  and 
remains,  the  people  of  revelation.'  2  Herrmann, 
of  the  Ritschlian  school,  emphasises  the  fact  of 
historical  revelation  in  Christ  almost  to  the  exclusion 
of  revelation  anywhere  else.3 

3.  With  respect  to  this  universalising  of  the  idea 
of  revelation,  on  which  more  will  be  said  hereafter, 
the  general  principle  on  which  it  rests  may  be 
granted,  with  one  important  qualification,  viz., 
that  all  true  religion  originates  in  revelation.  For 
it  is  not  here  to  be  overlooked  that  '  religion '  is  a 
wide  word,  and  covers  much  which  is  self- evidently 
false,  foolish,  and  superstitious — in  no  way  the 
product  of  revelation,  either  general  or  special,  but 
the  outcome  only  of  man's  wayward  and  unbridled 
phantasy.  If  the  savage  worships  fetishes,  or 
ghosts,  or  totems,  —  if,  through  an  animistic 
impulse,  he  peoples  heaven  and  earth  with  number- 

1  W.  Bousset,  in  his  book  translated  under  the  title  What  is 
Religion  t  observes :  '  The  distinction  between  natural  and  revealed 
religion  is  impossible.  .  .  .  Christianity  is  not  the  one  religion,  the 
only  religion,  but  simply  the  most  complete  species  of  the  genus' 
(pp.  8,  9).  See  also  tne  remarks  of  the  translator  in  the  preface  to 
the  work. 

8  Israel  unci  Babylonien,  pp.  37-8. 

*  Cf.  his  Communion  with  God,  passim. 


I.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  6 

less  imaginary  spirits, — if  he  frames  the  image  of  a 
tribal  god,  and  carves  a  stick  or  stone  into  some 
hideous   shape   to   embody   his   conception   of    his 
deity, — one  is  compelled  to  withhold  assent  from 
the  proposition  that  all  this  rests  on  revelation.     It 
becomes  necessary  to  make  an  important  distinction. 
Let  it  be  granted,  what  is  involved  in  a  true  philo- 
sophy of  religion,  that  there  is  in  man  that  which 
impels  him  in  search  of  an  infinite ;  granted,  what 
is  likewise  true,  that  there  is  that  in  nature,  and 
in   man's   own   soul,   which    awakens   in   him   the 
sense  or   feeling   of   the    infinite    (sensus    numinis), 
it  cannot  be  Justly  disputed  that  the  ideas  of  God 
which  spring  from  this  source  contain  in  them  an 
element   of    revelation.1     Even  where  the  religion 
rises  no  higher  than  nature-worship — the  worship 
of  sun,  sky,  fire,  or  other  natural  phenomena — there 
is  this  element  of  revelation — this  sense  of  a  deity 
felt  to  pervade  all,  at  the  basis.    Lower  down,  so  far 
as  any  trace  of  this  original  intuition  cleaves  to  the 
savage's  conception  of  his  fetish,  idol,  or  spirit,  that 
glimmer  of  truth  in  his  religion  comes  from  revelation. 
Generally,  however,  it  is  precisely  this  higher  element 
which  the  ordinary  psychological  theories  of  religion 
tend  to  ignore.     Man's  religious  ideas  are  sought  to 
be   accounted   for   by   purely    subjective   causes — 
animism,   belief  in  ghosts,   and  the  like — and  the 
spirits  with  which  the  world  is  filled  have  no  more 
reality  than  the  gnomes  and  fairies  of  our  nursery 
story-books.    They  stand  in  a  quite  distinct  category 
from  ideas  which  have  their  source  in  '  revelation,' 
even  in  the  widest  sense  of  that  word,  and  ought  not 
to  be  confounded  with  them. 

i  Cf.  Eom.  i.  20. 


6  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

II.  Natural  and  Supernatural  in  Revelation. 

More  fundamental,  as  marking  a  dividing-line  be- 
tween parties  on  this  subject,  is  the  question  whether, 
as  the  c  modern '  school  avers,  religion  is  only  of 
the  natural  character  now  indicated,  or  whether 
a  distinction  is  not  to  be  made  between  this,  and 
religion  proceeding  from  a  higher  and  more  special 
source — a  supernatural  as  distinguished  from  a 
simply  natural  revelation.  This  is  the  vital  question 
into  which,  at  the  present  time,  all  other  questions 
with  regard  to  revelation  and  inspiration  will  be 
found  to  resolve  themselves.  It  is,  at  the  same 
time,  a  question  wrapped  up  in  so  many  ambiguities, 
and  implicated  with  so  many  subtleties,  that  it  is  by 
no  means  easy  to  rid  the  discussion  of  it  of  irrele- 
vances, and  present  it  to  the  mind  as  a  clear  and 
simple  issue. 

1.  An  ambiguity,  which  it  is  important  to  observe, 
lurks  on  the  threshold  in  the  word  '  supernatural ' 
itself.  It  is  not  unusual,  and  in  the  sense  in  which 
the  terms  are  used  is  not  incorrect,  to  express  the 
point  at  issue  between  opposing  schools  by  saying 
that  it  is  a  question  of  the  admission  or  the  denial  of 
the  supernatural.  The  very  last  thing,  however, 
which  writers  of  the  modern  school  would  admit  is, 
that  they  are  fairly  charged  with  denying  the 
supernatural.  In  the  fullest  sense,  they  will  tell 
you,  they  acknowledge,  nay  contend  for,  the  super- 
natural. It  is  the  distinction  itself  between 
■  natural '  and  '  supernatural '  which,  in  the  interests 
of  what  they  take  to  be  a  higher  point  of  view,  they 
seek  to  break  down.  There  is,  they  affirm,  a  super- 
natural basis  of  the  universe,  and  a  supernatural 


I.]  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  7 

presence  and  action  of  God  in  its  every  part.  Only, 
they  will  say,  it  is  a  supernatural  which  is  not 
distinct  from  nature,  but  which  expresses  itself  in 
nature's  own  forces  and  laws,  and  in  the  orderly  course 
of  nature's  events.  For  the  older  Deistical  separa- 
tion of  God  and  nature,  they  substitute  a  God 
revealing  Himself  in  the  natural  order — an  '  imman- 
ence '  of  God  in  nature — in  Carlyle's  phrase,  a 
1  natural  supernaturalism.'  1  Like  Goethe,  they 
ask  :  '  What  were  a  God  who  only  gave  the  world  a 
push  from  without,  or  let  it  spin  round  His  finger  ?  ' 
and  with  the  same  author  they  reply  :  '  It  is  fitting 
for  Him  to  move  the  world  from  within,  to  foster 
nature  in  Himself,  Himself  in  nature ;  so  that, 
whatever  lives  and  moves  and  has  its  being  in  Him 
never  lacks  His  power  or  His  Spirit.' 2  Here  then, 
and  not  in  interruptions  of  the  orderly  course  of 
things  in  nature,  is  laid,  it  is  held,  the  surest,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  broadest  and  worthiest  foundation 
of  a  doctrine  of  revelation.  No  other,  it  is  claimed, 
is  needed  ;  for  who  can  doubt  that  a  God  immanent 
and  active  in  every  thought  and  impulse  of  the 
human  mind,  and  teaching  and  disciplining  hourly 
by  the  events  of  life,  can,  even  if  the  old-world  belief 
in  miracle  be  granted  to  be  baseless,  secure  that 
everything  needed  for  the  welfare,  guidance  and 
inspiration  of  the  race  is  furnished  to  it  ? 

2.  The  side  of  truth  represented  in  the  view  now 
sketched,  one-sided  as  it  is  when  taken  by  itself, 
should  not  be  inconsiderately  passed  over.  One 
of  the  spiritual  gains  of  the  last  century  was  un- 
doubtedly the  fall  of  the  older  Deistic  conception 

1  Sartor  Resartus,  bk.  in.  chap.  viii. 

2  Quoted  by  Piieiderer,  Giff.  Lects.  i.  p.  288. 


8  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

referred  to — never,  however,  that  of  true  Christian 
theology — which  separated  God  from  His  universe, 
and  the  replacement  of  this  by  the  idea  of  an 
immanent  relation  of  God  to  the  world,  and  to  the 
human  spirit ;  not  necessarily,  indeed,  to  the 
denial  of  a  transcendent  relation  as  well,  which  is 
the  opposite  error,  but  as  imposing  on  the  mind  the 
need  of  thinking  of  God's  relation  to  the  world  as 
not  outward  and  mechanical,  but  as  inward  and 
vital.  This  change  had  naturally  its  effect  on  the 
idea  of  revelation,  which  came  also  to  be  appre- 
hended in  a  more  vital  way.  A  right  philosophy 
teaches  us  to  recognise  an  element  of  God's  self- 
revelation  in  every  true  thought,  every  worthy 
exercise  of  faculty,  every  achievement  of  genius, 
every  advance  in  knowledge  and  discovery.  The 
essential  difference  of  standpoint  on  the  subject 
lies,  not  in  disputing  God's  presence  and  self- 
revelation  in  nature,  but  in  the  point  of  whether 
this  is  to  be  regarded  as  all — whether,  as  God's 
supernatural  Being  transcends  nature,  so  His 
supernatural  action  also,  in  the  process  of  revelation, 
may  not  transcend  the  necessitated  order  of  causes 
and  effects,  and  manifest  itself  in  extraordinary, 
because  free  and  personal  ways. 

In  view  of  this  divergence  of  opinion  on  the  subject 
of  the  supernatural,  the  attempt  may  now  be  made 
to  define  more  exactly  the  different  attitudes  taken 
up  at  the  present  time  to  the  idea  of  revelation. 

III.  (A.)  The  Religious-Naturalistic  Tendency. 

A  first  place  must  be  given  to  the  view  just 
indicated — that   which   identifies   the   natural    and 


i.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  9 

the  supernatural.  Though  claimed  as  distinctively 
'  modern,'  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  view 
in  question  is  really  new.  Goethe  and  Carlyle  have 
been  quoted.  But  the  doctrine  has  been  the 
favourite  one  of  humanists,  philosophers,  and  the 
higher  class  of  speculative  thinkers  from  the 
beginning ;  has  been  familiar  since  the  days  of 
Spinoza,  Lessing,  and  Herder.  For  a  classical 
illustration,  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  beyond 
Schleiermacher.  To  this  thinker,  in  his  Discourses 
on  Religion,  every  intuition  or  original  feeling  is  a 
*  revelation '  ;  '  inspiration '  is  simply  the  general 
expression  for  the  feeling  of  true  morality  and 
freedom  ;  '  prophecy  '  is  the  religious  anticipation 
of  the  other  half  of  a  religious  event,  one  half  being 
given,1  and  so  on. 

1.  There  can  be  no  question,  in  any  case,  that  the 
obliteration  of  the  distinction  of  *  natural '  and 
'  supernatural '  in  revelation,  as  in  the  other  spheres 
of  God's  action,  is  the  watchword  of  much  of  our 
modern  thinking.  In  the  general  theory  of 
revelation,  its  result  is  the  identification  of  the 
revealing  process  with  the  ordinary  psychological 
activities,  and  the  refusal  to  admit  any  higher, 
distinctively  supernatural,  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
in  guiding  into  or  imparting  truth.  As  an  influential 
theologian  of  the  past  generation,  Biedermann  of 
Zurich,  succinctly  put  the  point :  '  The  division 
of  revelation  into  natural  and  supernatural  is 
ambiguous  in  expression  and  abstract  and  figurative 
as  respects  the  fact.     It  opposes  as  two  kinds  of 

1  Reden,  ii.  (Werke,  i.  pp.  249-50).  On  Schleiermacher's  more 
mature  view  of  revelation  in  his  Der  Christ.  Glaube,  see  Dorner, 
Syst.  o/Doct.  ii.  pp.  157-8. 


10  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

revelation  what  are  only  two  moments  of  all  revela- 
tion, inseparable  from  one  another.  All  revelation 
is  essentially  supernatural,  if  under  nature  is  under- 
stood the  natural  determinateness  of  man  as  finite, 
in  opposition  to  his  spiritual  destination  ;  and  all 
revelation  is  just  as  essentially  natural,  if  under 
nature  is  understood  what  belongs  to  his  essence.' 1 

2.  In  the  treatment  of  Scripture  the  effects  of  this 
anti-supernaturalistic  tendency  are  seen  in  the 
complete  elimination  of  the  miraculous  element  in 
both  Old  Testament  and  New,  save,  indeed,  as  any 
seeming  wonder  {e.g.,  bodily  healings)  can  be 
naturally  explained,  and  in  the  expunging,  or 
explaining  away,  of  all  genuine  prediction  in 
prophecy.  How  extensively  this  principle  rules  in 
recent  criticism  no  one  acquainted  with  the  book 
and  magazine  literature  of  our  time  needs  to  be 
informed.  Kuenen's  often- quoted  remark  on  the 
religion  of  Israel  in  its  relation  to  other  religions 
stands  for  the  position  of  a  whole  school.  '  For  us,' 
he  says,  'the  religion  of  Israel  is  one  of  these  religions; 
nothing  less,  but  also  nothing  more.' 2  Gunkel  was 
cited  above  on  Israel  as  '  the  people  of  revelation „' 
Yet  he  says  expressly,  '  The  history  of  revelation 
is  transacted  among  men  according  to  the  same 
psychological  laws  as  every  other  human  event.' 3 
Wellhausen,  Duhm,  Stade,  Cornill,  with  their 
numerous  followers  in  other  countries,  are  here 
agreed.  '  God,'  says  Cornill,  '  who  always  and 
everywhere  reveals  Himself  and  works  in  history, 
has  also  revealed  Himself  and  worked  in  the  same 
way  in  history's  greatest  and  most  significant  phase, 

1  Christ.  Dogmatik,  i.  p.  265. 

*  Rel.  of  Israel,  i.  p.  5.  s  Op.  cit.  p.  37. 


i.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  11 

the  history  of  Israel's  religion ' ;  adding  in  defence  : 
1  The  natural  and  the  naturalistic  are  of  two  kinds  ; 
would  it  be  really  unworthy  of  God  if  the  process 
could  be  shown  to  proceed  naturally  ?  Is  it  not 
just  the  natural  that  is  the  greatest  marvel  ? ' 1 
The  like  conception  is  applied  by  Bousset,  Wernle, 
Loisy,  and  the  school  they  represent,  to  the  life  of 
Jesus  and  the  origins  of  Christianity,  with  like 
result  in  the  elimination  of  all  miracle. 

3.  The  large  assumption  underlying  this  denial  of 
a  direct  supernatural  factor  in  revelation,  viz.,  the 
unbroken  continuity  of  nature,  and  consequent  im- 
possibility of  the  miraculous,  falls  to  be  discussed  at 
a  later  stage.  The  assumption  itself,  given  forth 
with  confidence  as  a  self-evident  postulate  of  the 
modern  mind,  recurs  so  constantly  that  special 
illustration  is  hardly  necessary.  As  a  recent 
example,  it  may  suffice  to  quote  the  statement  in 
an  able  work  on  The  Philosophical  Basis  of  Religion 
by  Professor  John  Watson,  of  Queen's  University, 
Kingston,  Canada  : — 

'  Moreover,'  this  writer  says,  *  the  Christianity  of 
our  day  must  be  consistent  with  the  highest  products 
of  reflection.  We  cannot  now  adopt  in  reference  to 
it  a  view  of  history  which  has  been  exploded  in 
other  spheres  ;  we  cannot  believe  that  there  are 
cataclysms  in  the  realm  of  spirit  any  more  than  in 
the  realm  of  nature.  There  are  no  breaks  in  the 
life  of  humanity  any  more  than  in  the  external 
world.  Therefore  the  kingdom  of  heaven  must 
consist  in  the  development  of  goodness  in  and 
through  the  ordinary  processes  by  which  man  is  ever 
realising  his  ideals.  .  .  .  Hence,  just  as  there  was  a 
i  Introd.  to  0.  T.  (E.T.),  p.  116. 


12  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

primitive  view  of  history  and  of  nature,  so  there  is 
a  modern  view  which  Christianity  must  incorporate 
on  pain  of  extinction.'  1 

It  might  be  truer  to  say  that  the  Christianity 
which  incorporates  this  '  modern '  view  is,  not 
threatened  with  extinction,  but  is  already  extin- 
guished. 

IV.  (B.)  The  Critic  al-Supernaturalistic 

Tendency. 

It  is  now,  however,  time  to  point  out  that,  with 
all  its  claims  to  be  the  sole  representative  of  the 
1  modern '  spirit,  this  naturalistic  school  has  by  no 
means  the  whole  field  to  itself  ;  that,  on  the  contrary, 
its  fundamental  contention  is  widely  dissented  from, 
even  among  those  who  go  far  with  it  in  its  general 
critical  attitude  to  Scripture — at  least  to  the  Old 
Testament.  There  is  a  believing-critical,  as  well  as 
a  naturalistic  school  of  thinkers,  and  their  opinions 
also  need  to  be  taken  account  of. 

1.  Superficial  parallels  have  often  been  drawn 
between  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Scriptures  and 
the  sacred  books  of  other  religions.  But  the 
impartial  mind  cannot  ignore  the  fact  that  in  the 
writings  which  constitute  our  Bible  there  is  a  unity 
and  progression,  a  guiding  purpose,  culminating  in 
Jesus  Christ  and  His  redemption,   a  fulness  and 

1  Op.  cit.  p.  187.  Cf.  Bousset :  '  Corresponding  to  modern  culture, 
there  is  a  special  mode  of  thinking  which  is  essentially  peculiar  to 
it.  The  main  characteristic  of  this  modern  mode  of  thinking  rests 
upon  the  determination  to  try  to  explain  everything  that  takes  place 
in  the  world  by  natural  causes  :  or — to  express  it  in  another  form — 
it  rests  on  the  determined  assertion  of  universal  laws  to  which  all 
phenomena,  natural  and  spiritual,  are  subject'  (Op.  cit.  p.  283). 


I.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  13 

power  of  religious  truth,  which  place  them  in  a 
category  by  themselves,  and  compel  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  a  unique  origin  answering  to  their  unique 
character.  There  have  never  been  wanting  in  the 
critical  schools  men  able  to  perceive  this.  It  is 
important  constantly  to  remember,  and  fair  to 
recognise,  that,  if  much  unsettlement  has  resulted 
from  the  modern  critical  movement,  in  its  bear- 
ings on  the  ideas  of  revelation  and  inspiration, 
the  unsettlement  has  not  been  without  many 
positive  compensations.  Dr.  Sanday  has  truly 
remarked  that  we  have  witnessed  about  the  utmost 
lengths  to  which  the  critical  movement  can  go. 
'  It  is  impossible,'  he  says,  '  for  any  theory  started 
in  the  future  to  be  more  thoroughly  naturalistic 
than  many  of  those  which  we  already  have  before  us.' l 
But  the  movement  has  not  been  wholly  destructive. 
It  will  be  enough  at  present  to  mention  one  important 
gain  :  the  demonstration,  viz.,  which  the  application 
of  the  strictest  historical  and  critical  methods  has 
afforded  of  the  absolutely  unique  and  extraordinary 
character  of  the  religion  of  Israel.  As  the  present 
writer  has  urged  elsewhere,2  with  the  best  will  in 
the  world  to  explain  the  religious  development  of 
Israel  by  principles  applicable  to  all  religions,  the 
efforts  of  the  critics  have  resulted  in  a  magnificent 
demonstration  of  the  immense  and  unaccountable 
difference  between  the  religion  of  this  people  and 
every  other.  The  difference  is  independent  of 
theories  of  the  age  of  books,  and  impresses  the  mind 
nearly  as  strongly  on  the  newer  view  of  Israel's 
development   as   on   the   older.     How   is   it   to   be 

1  Inspiration,  p.  2. 

*  The  Problem  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  10. 


14  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [oh. 

explained  ?  Can  psychological  causes  alone  account 
for  it  ?  They  can  not.  The  further  inquiry  has 
gone,  the  tendency  has  increasingly  been  to  force 
from  the  lips  of  the  critics  themselves  the  word 
1  revelation.' 

2.  It  will  not  be  doubted,  at  least,  that  this 
distinctive  character  of  the  Biblical  revelation  is 
upheld  by  the  greater  number  of  our  best  known 
British  critical  scholars,  e.g.,  by  Dr.  Driver,  Dr. 
Sanday,  the  late  Dr.  A.  B.  Davidson,  Dr.  G.  A. 
Smith,  and  others.  The  same  is  true  of  a  multitude 
of  Old  Testament  and  New  Testament  critical 
scholars  on  the  Continent,  yet  surely  without  the 
forfeiture  thereby  of  their  right  to  the  title  '  modern,' 
so  calmly  appropriated  by  the  other  side  to  itself. 
Here,  as  before,  a  few  examples  may  suffice. 

The  facts  which  weigh  chiefly  with  these  critical 
writers  in  determining  their  admission  of  a  super- 
natural origin  of  the  religion  of  the  Old  Testament — 
a  fortiori  of  that  of  the  New — are  such  as  these : 
the  spiritual  and  ethical  character  of  the  Old 
Testament  monotheism — its  idea  of  God ;  the 
organic  unity  of  the  history  and  religion ;  the 
evidence  throughout  of  a  divine  redemptive  pur- 
pose, reaching  its  goal  in  Jesus  Christ ;  not  least, 
the  overmastering  impression  of  Hebrew  prophecy. 
All  these  points  of  view  are  strikingly  represented 
in  a  lecture  given  a  few  years  ago  by  Professor 
Kautzsch,  of  Halle,  on  The  Abiding  Value  of  the  Old 
Testament.  This  distinguished  scholar  emphasises 
the  ethical  and  religious  significance  of  the  Old 
Testament.  It  is,  he  contends,  inexhaustible, 
because  it  springs  from  the  root  of  faith  in  a  living 
God  of  unconditioned  holiness  and  righteousness, 


i.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  15 

who  is  at  the  same  time  a  God  of  redeeming  grace. 
'  The  abiding  value  of  the  Old  Testament  lies  above 
all  in  this,  that  it  guarantees  to  us  with  absolute 
certainty  the  fact  and  the  process  of  a  divine  plan 
and  way  of  salvation,  which  found  its  conclusion 
and  fulfilment  in  the  New  Covenant,  in  the  Person 
and  work  of  Jesus  Christ.'  *  Every  attempt,'  he 
declares,  '  at  explanation  through  human  reflection 
or  natural  development,  every  form,  in  short,  of 
evolutionary  theory,  now  in  such  high  favour,  shatters 
on  one  fact — that  of  prophecy.'  The  distinguishing 
mark  by  which  prophecy  is  raised  high  as  heaven 
above  all  heathen  phenomena  with  which  it  may  be 
compared  is,  that  it  '  stands  in  the  service  of  a 
divine  plan  of  salvation.'  The  prophets  are  living 
witnesses  to,  and  guarantee,  the  fact  that  there  is 
direct  communication  between  God  and  man.1 

Similarly,  the  development  of  God's  redemptive 
c  plan '  was  held  by  the  late  Professor  Dillmann  to 
be  the  central  idea  of  the  Old  Testament ; 2  and 
Professor  Kittel,  a  disciple  of  Dillmann's,  writes  in 
his  History  of  the  Hebrews :  '  Nothing  but  an 
immediate  contact  of  God  Himself  with  man  can 
produce  the  true  knowledge  of  God,  or  bring  man  a 
real  step  nearer  thereto  '  ;  while,  of  '  the  new  and 
lofty  knowledge  of  God  possessed  by  Moses,'  he 
declares  :  '  That  knowledge  came  neither  from  his  age 
nor  from  himself ;  it  came  to  him  from  the 
immediate  revelation  of  God  in  his  heart.'  3 

Professor  G.  A.  Smith,  in  his  Modern  Criticism  and 
the  Preaching  of  the  Old  Testament,  bases  his  '  Proof  of 

1  Op.  cit.  pp.  22,  24,  28-9,  30-1. 

a  Cf.  Dillmann,  Alttest.  Theol.  p.  441. 

»  Op.  cit.  i.  (E.T.)p.  252. 


16  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

a  Divine  Revelation  in  the  Old  Testament '  on  the 
fact  that,  '  in  a  physical  environment,  very  fertile 
in  polytheism,'  Israel  alone  was  enabled,  '  not  merely 
to  rise  above  this  to  a  stage  of  religion  subordinate 
only  to  the  Christianity  of  Christ,  but  to  exhibit 
throughout  her  whole  history  a  religious  progress 
which  Christ  affirmed  to  be  the  gradual  preparation 
for  Himself ' ;  and  says  :  '  To  this  unique  exception 
in  the  history  of  Semitic  religion  it  is  my  firm  belief 
that  only  one  cause  can  be  assigned,  and  that  is, 
that  in  the  religion  of  Israel,  as  recorded  in  the 
Old  Testament,  there  was  an  authentic  revelation 
of  the  one  true  God.' 1 

3.  Naturally,  in  light  of  these  facts,  prominence 
is  given  to  the  idea  of  '  organic  unity '  in  the 
Biblical  religion  as  a  mark  of  its  origin  in  revelation. 
Apart  from  all  theories  about  the  Bible,  the  earnest 
student  cannot  but  be  struck  by  observing  in  how 
marked  a  degree  it  is  a  structural  unity — has  a 
beginning,  a  middle,  and  an  end.  The  Bible  is  a 
unique  book  in  this  respect,  however,  only  because 
it  is  the  record  of  a  unique  revelation.  It  is  in  the 
religion,  the  revelation,  that  the  real  mystery  and 
wonder  lie.  It  is  there,  in  God's  progressive  self- 
revelation,  that  the  organic  unity  which  impresses 
the  mind  so  strongly  is  to  be  sought  for.  Hence, 
a  writer  like  H.  Schultz,  in  speaking  of  the  religion 
of  Israel,  can  observe  that  it  is  '  not  a  variety  of 
forms  of  religion  which  have  merely  an  outward 
connection  of  space  and  time,'  which  has  to  be 
dealt  with,  '  but  one  religion,  though  distinct  stages 
of  its  development,  which,  consequently,  are 
dynamically   and   inwardly   bound   together ' ;     in 

1  Ojp.  cit.  p.  126. 


L]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  17 

the  representation  of  which  '  each  member  must  hark 
back  on  the  preceding,  a  common  thread  of  living 
tissue  must  bind  all  together — the  representation 
must  be,  not  merely  "  historical,"  but  "  genetic."  ' l 

A  like  organic  unity,  combined  with  progressive 
development,  it  might  be  shown,  reveals  itself  in 
doctrine.  While  throwing  off,  or  suffering  to  fall 
into  the  background,  what  is  accidental  or  temporary, 
each  stage  in  the  advance  of  revelation  takes  up 
what  is  vital  and  permanent  in  the  preceding  stage. 
No  single  grain  of  the  word  of  God  '  which  liveth 
and  abideth  ' 2  is  allowed  to  perish  in  the  process. 

V.  (C.)  The  Evangelical-Positive  Tendency. 

1.  The  above  testimonies,  chosen  from  writers  of 
critical  repute,  show  conclusively  that  faith  in  a 
supernatural  revelation  is  not  only  not  subverted, 
but  in  certain  respects,  and  for  certain  minds,  is 
directly  aided  by  the  view  of  the  Scriptures  usually 
denominated  '  critical.'  This  the  adherents  of  a  yet 
stricter  view  of  revelation  and  inspiration — what, 
for  distinction's  sake,  may  be  called  the  evangelical- 
positive — will  freely  grant.  These  feel,  at  the  same 
time,  that,  in  other  respects,  the  extreme  lengths 
to  which  critical  theories  are  frequently  carried — 
the  manner  in  which  critics  take  the  Bible  to  pieces 
and  dissect  its  text,  the  free  fashion  in  which  they 
impugn  its  historical  credibility,  the  later  dates 
they  assign  to  its  narratives,  and  the  extensive 
place  they  allow  to  myth,  legend,  invention — in 
numerous  instances,  to  intentional  fraud, — create 
serious  difficulties  in  carrying  through  a  consistent 

i  0.  T.  Theol.  (E.T.)  i.  p.  3.  *  1  Pet.  i.  23. 

B 


18  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

doctrine  of  revelation  and  inspiration,  and  are,  in 
no  small  degree,  responsible  for  the  existing  widely- 
spread  unsettlement  of  opinion  on  these  subjects. 
The  learned  Dr.  Dorner,  in  the  sections  on 
'  Revelation  '  in  his  System  of  Doctrine  1 — sections 
marked  by  his  accustomed  profundity  and  insight 
— may  be  named  as  an  earlier  representative  of  this 
more  conservative  position.  It  is,  despite  the 
*  modern '  current  that  has  set  in,  probably,  in 
essential  idea,  the  position  of  the  great  majority  of 
evangelical  Christians  still.  A  few  words,  therefore, 
may  be  said  in  its  elucidation. 

2.  Criticism  has  to  do  with  the  external  form  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  those  are  at  all  times  few  who 
are  capable  of  entering  into  the  intricacies  of  critical 
argument.  There  is  something,  however,  deeper 
than  external  form,  on  which  it  is  possible  for  the 
humblest  to  form  a  judgment,  and  which  will 
surely  carry  the  student  of  divine  revelation 
further  into  the  heart  of  the  subject  than  any 
amount  of  critical  learning  would  do — by  neglect 
of  which,  in  truth,  the  ablest  critics  go  continually 
astray.  The  one  thing  criticism  can  never  expunge 
from  this  book,  the  Bible,  is  what  we  speak  of  as  the 
Gospel  —  its  continuous,  coherent,  self  -  attesting 
discovery  to  man  of  the  mind  of  God  regarding  man 
himself,  his  sin,  the  guilt  and  ruin  into  which  sin  has 
plunged  him,  and  over  against  that  the  method  of  a 
divine  salvation,  the  outcome  of  a  purpose  of 
eternal  love,  wrought  out  in  ages  of  progressive 
revelation,  and  culminating  in  the  mission,  life, 
death,  atoning  work,  and  resurrection  of  His  Son 
Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  gift  of  His  Spirit  to  the 

i  Vol.  ii.  pp.  133  S. 


I.]  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  19 

Church  and  believers.  Here  also  is  a  fact  —  the 
biggest  and  most  solid  fact  in  the  universe — a  fact 
patent  on  the  face  of  Scripture  to  any  one  who 
reads  with  open  eyes,  intertwined  with  ages  of 
Christian  experience,  with  enduring  institutions, 
with  efforts  and  achievements,  which  furnish  a 
continuous  proof  of  its  reality.  So  long  as  this  fact 
stands,  the  Scriptures  will  also  stand.  For  it  is  the 
Scriptures  which,  in  their  divers  parts  and  divers 
manners,  embody  and  convey  to  us  this  revelation 
of  God,  and  by  the  verifiable  presence  of  this  reve- 
lation in  them,  the  Scriptures  are  proved  to  be, 
what  they  claim  to  be,  the  living  and  inspired 
oracles  of  God.1 

Here,  then,  it  is,  in  the  evangelical  view,  within 
Scripture,  not  outside  of  it, — within  this  grand, 
cathedral  -  like  structure  of  divine  revelation, — 
within  this  massive,  comprehensive,  divinely- 
unique  plan  of  God's  salvation  for  a  world  of  sinners, 
— that  the  believer  in  revelation  must  take  his 
stand,  if  he  is  to  recover  lost  ground  in  regard  to  the 
Scriptures.  He  is  here  at  the  heart — the  centre — 
not  at  the  circumference.  In  the  light  of  what  he 
beholds  of  the  realised  saving  purpose  of  God  in 
the  New  Testament,  he  looks  back  upon  the  stages 
of  its  development  in  the  Old,  and  feels  the  ground 
there  also  firm  beneath  his  feet.  Criticism  does  not 
make  him  anxious,  for  he  knows  that  excesses  of 
criticism  must  always  be  blocked  and  checked  by 
the  presence  of  this  vital  evangelical  element  which 

1  2  Tim.  iii.  15-17.  The  above  statements  are  made  with  clear 
recognition  that  it  is  precisely  these  evangelical  doctrines  which,  in 
the  'modern  view'  of  Christianity,  are  swept  away  (cf.  Bousset, 
Op.  cit.  p.  292,  and  see  below,  p.  33). 


20  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

runs  continuously  throughout  Scripture.  If  he  is 
told,  as  he  will  be,  that  he  is  beginning  at  the  wrong 
end, — that  he  has  first  to  prove  that  the  Bible  is 
God's  Word,  and  only  then  can  go  on  to  speak  of  its 
Gospel, — his  reply  is  the  simple  one,  that  it  is  the 
fact  that  the  Bible  has  this  Gospel  in  the  heart  of  it 
which,  above  all  else,  proves  to  him  that  it  is  God's 
Word.  If  that  Gospel  is  in  the  Bible,  he  is  as  sure 
as  he  is  of  his  own  existence  that  it  was  not  man  who 
put  it  there.  It  is  too  high  for  him  ;  he  could  not 
attain  to  it.  The  Bible  reveals  man  to  himself  as 
he  could  never  have  known  himself  without  its  help. 
It  reveals  God  to  him  in  lights  and  aspects  of  His 
grace  which  it  could  never  have  entered  the  wildest 
dreams  of  his  imagination  to  conceive.  It  embodies 
that  grace  in  a  divine  plan,  working  itself  out  in  an 
extended  history,  which  it  is  absolutely  certain 
no  sinful  mind  could  have  invented.  A  book  which 
contains  such  a  Gospel  needs  no  external  attestation 
to  prove  that  God  speaks  through  it  with  authority 
to  men. 

3.  The  idea  of  revelation  reached  along  this  line 
is  obviously  much  more  definite  in  character  than 
any  conception  obtained  by  more  general  methods. 
It  has  also  a  regulative  value  which  other  views  have 
not.  Accepting  a  supernatural  economy  of  grace 
as  the  central  fact  of  revelation,  it  is  not  trammelled 
by  the  a  priori  presumptions  about  miracle  which 
are  apt  to  vitiate  purely  critical  theories.  For 
miracle  is  of  the  very  essence  of  the  economy.  It 
is  able  to  take  up  firmer  ground  on  historicity ;  for 
it  sees  the  meaning  and  place  of  the  great  facts  in 
the  Biblical  history,  as  other  theories  do  not.  It 
recognises    a   line    of   divine    revelation    extending 


i.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  21 

through  all  time.  It  is  therefore  prepared  to  accept 
the  fact  of  a  record  of  such  special,  continuous, 
supernatural  revelation. 

VI.  Advances  in  Later  Thought. 

It  is  still,  however,  to  be  acknowledged  that, 
even  within  the  limits  of  this — the  stricter  and  more 
positive  school  on  the  subject  of  revelation  and 
inspiration  —  considerable  changes  and  in  some 
respects  advances,  have  taken  place,  due  to  the 
widened  outlook  and  more  scientific  temper  of 
the  age.  These  will  come  up  in  the  general  course 
of  the  discussion,  and  need  only  be  briefly  glanced 
at  here. 

1.  One  chief  advance  is  the  clearer  distinction 
made  between  revelation  and  Holy  Scripture — a 
distinction  for  which  much  is  owing  to  Rothe,  one 
of  the  most  suggestive  writers  on  the  doctrine  of 
revelation.  This  distinction,  as  Rothe  points  out,1 
the  older  evangelical  theology  tended  almost 
completely  to  ignore.  Revelation  in  large  part 
preceded  its  record ;  yet,  as  will  be  seen  later, 
revelation  and  Scripture  come  to  be  for  us  practi- 
cally synonymous  and  co-extensive.2 

2.  Another  change  is  the  clearer  conception  of 
revelation  itself  as  something  primarily  historical. 
Instead  of  revelation  being  regarded  as  consisting 
simply  or  exclusively  in  the  communication  of 
truths  or  ideas  through  internal  suggestion,  illumi- 
nation, or  intuition — the  doctrinaire  view  of  revela- 
tion, as  the  late  Professor  A.  B.  Bruce  called  it — 
its  essence  is  seen  to  lie,  primarily,  in  a  series  of 

1  Cf.  his  Zur  Dogmatik,  pp.  54-5.  2  See  below,  p.  59. 


22  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

divine  acts :  '  God  manifesting  Himself  in  the 
history  of  the  world  in  a  supernatural  manner  and 
for  a  special  purpose.' 1  This,  of  course,  is  not 
intended  as  the  denial  of  subjective  and  internal 
revelation,  as  in  prophets  and  apostles.  It  is  still 
an  important  advance  when,  in  accordance  with 
the  Biblical  conception  itself,  the  stress  is  shifted 
back,  even  from  prophetic  and  apostolic  teaching, 
to  the  divine  acts  which  stand  behind  both. 
'  He  made  known  His  ways  unto  Moses,  His 
doings  unto  the  children  of  Israel.' 2  God's  saving 
acts  in  Israel — His  dealings  in  grace  with  the  nation 
and  its  fathers — stood  behind  the  prophets'  message, 
and  formed  the  basis  of  their  knowledge  of  God  and 
confidence  in  Him.  Similarly,  the  work  of  the 
apostles  stands  in  a  subsidiary,  interpretative, 
and  ministrative  relation  to  the  historical  revelation 
of  God  in  the  personal  manifestation  of  Christ. 

3.  A  third  gain  in  the  modern  treatment  lies  in 
a  more  dynamical  view  of  inspiration,  as  distin- 
guished from  a  theory  of  mechanical  dictation — 
an  idea  sometimes  confounded  with  that  of  in- 
spiration, but  now  hardly  defended  by  any  school.3 
Both  revelation  and  inspiration  are  conceived  of, 
without  prejudice  to  their  supernatural  origin,  as 
standing   in   the   closest  relation   to   the   capacity, 

1  Bruce,  Chief  End  of  Revelation,  p.  57.  Dr.  Bruce  closely  follows 
Rotlie  on  this  point. 

2  Ps.  ciii.  7. 

8  Recent  writers  of  all  schools  allow  the  fullest  play  in  inspiration 
to  the  individuality  of  the  sacred  writers.  See,  among  conservative 
writers,  Lee,  Inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture,  pp.  361  ff.  ;  Bannerman, 
Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  pp.  453  ff.  ;  Hodge  and  Warfield,  art. 
'  Inspiration '  in  The  Presbyterian  Review,  April  1881.  To  this  last 
important  article  a  good  many  references  will  be  made. 


I.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  23 

experience,  and  mental  endowments  of  the  in- 
dividual, and  to  the  circumstances  of  his  age. 
Connected  with  this  is  to  be  observed  an  enlargement 
of  the  idea  of  inspiration  to  include,  or  at  least  take 
account  of,  the  entire  process  by  which,  under  the 
providential  superintendence  of  God,  and  guidance 
of  His  Spirit,  the  inspired  record  has  been  produced.1 
Special  stress  is  laid  on  the  intimate  relations  of 
'  inspiration '  and  '  providence.' 2  The  importance 
of  this  conjunction  will  be  afterwards  seen.3 

4.  Probably,  however,  the  principal  advance  in 
the  modern  handling  of  this  subject  is  in  the  attempts 
at  the  more  accurate  discrimination  of  the  related 
ideas  ot  revelation  and  inspiration  themselves.  So 
long  as  revelation  was  directly  identified  with 
Scripture,  such  discrimination  was  impossible ; 
now  nearly  all  writers  recognise  a  distinction  between 
the  two  ideas.4  It  is  to  be  acknowledged,  neverthe- 
less, that  much  haziness  still  rests  over  this  whole 
part  of  the  inquiry,  and  that,  in  the  distinction  of 
the  relations  of  revelation  and  inspiration,  too  much 
has  occasionally  been  looked  for  from  mere  verbal 
refinements.     The  distinctions  offered  are  far  from 

1  Thus,  in  the  Gospels,  there  is  the  personal  ministry  of  Jesus, 
the  oral  teaching  and  preaching  of  the  apostles,  leading  to  the 
segregation  and  formation  into  an  oral  type  of  the  incidents  and 
sayings  of  Jesus  which  formed  the  synoptic  tradition,  the  earlier 
records  of  parts  of  this  tradition,  which  may  have  entered  into  the 
composition  of  the  Gospels,  etc.  An  element  of  inspiration  and 
divine  guidance  is  present  through  the  whole.  (Cf.  Westcott,  Intro- 
duction to  the  Study  of  the  Gospels,  pp.  28,  32,  166,  etc.) 

2  Westcott,  as  above  ;  Hodge  and  Warfield  in  article  cited.  The 
inter-connection  of  inspiration  and  providence  may  be  said  to  be  the 
thesis  of  this  article. 

*  See  below,  p.  213. 

*  The  writers  above  quoted  all  do  so,  and  most  others. 


24  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

agreeing  among  themselves,  and  in  all  their  forms 
seem  open  to  manifest  objections.  A  few  examples 
may  be  given. 

According  to  Rothe,  manifestation,  which  is  the 
external  and  objective  side  of  revelation,  and 
inspiration,  which  is  its  internal  and  subjective 
side,  combine  in  inseparable  unity  to  constitute 
the  actual  revelation.  But  revelation,  it  is  plain,  is 
sometimes  wholly  internal.1 

According  to  Dr.  Lee,  revelation  has  reference  to 
a  supernatural  communication  of  knowledge  from 
God  to  man  :  inspiration  is  '  that  actuating  energy 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  .  .  .  guided  by  which  the  human 
agents  chosen  by  God  have  officially  proclaimed  His 
will  by  word  of  mouth,  or  have  committed  to  writing 
the  several  portions  of  the  Bible.  .  .  .  Revelation 
and  inspiration  are  also  to  be  distinguished  by  the 
sources  from  which  they  proceed,  revelation  being 
the  peculiar  function  of  the  eternal  Word ;  inspiration 
the  result  of  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit.' 2  Does 
the  Spirit  then  not  reveal  ?  The  idea  of  revelation 
here,  besides,  is  too  exclusively  doctrinal. 

Dr.  A.  M.  Fairbairn  propounds  a  view  which  is 
nearly  the  reverse  of  this.  '  God  inspires,  man  re- 
veals. Inspiration  is  the  process  by  which  God  gives ; 
revelation  is  the  mode  or  form — word,  character, 
or  institution — in  which  man  embodies  that  which 
he  has  received.  The  words,  though  not  equiva- 
lent, are  co-extensive,  the  one  denoting  the  process 
on  its  inner  side,  the  other  on  its  outer.'  3 

i  Op.  cit.  pp.  68-9.  2  Op.  cit.  pp.  27-29. 

*  Christ  in  Mod.  Theol,  p.  496.  For  other  statements  of  the  dis- 
tinction, see  Dorner,  as  above ;  Ladd,  Doct.  of  Scripture,  i.  p.  321 ; 
Bannerman,  Op.  cit.  p.  151 ;  Westcott,  Op.  cit.  p.  8,  etc. 


i.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  25 

The  subject  will  be  considered  later,  but  here  it  may 
provisionally  be  asked  :  Can  there  be  any  form  of 
internal  revelation  {e.g.,  prophetic)  which  does  not 
imply  as  its  condition  and  correlate  an  exalted  or 
1  inspired '  state  of  soul  ?  Or  can  there  be  any 
inspiration  which  is  not  attended  by  a  measure 
of  '  revelation ' — of  insight  into  divine  things  ? 
If  not,  are  not  the  two  ideas  inseparably  conjoined  ? 
On  its  objective  side,  again,  has  not  '  revelation ' 
a  much  more  extended  range  than  is  sometimes 
given  to  it  ?  Who,  e.g.,  can  fail  to  see  that,  in  the 
Old  Testament,  revelation  is  not  confined  to  the 
specifically  miraculous  acts  or  words  of  God,  but 
includes  the  whole  historical  dealing  of  God  with 
Israel,  and  the  providential  relations  of  that  people 
with  other  nations  (Egypt,  Assyria,  Chaldsea) — in 
other  words,  carries  us  beyond  the  distinctively  mira- 
culous into  the  sphere  of  God's  ordinary  providence  ? 
The  important  fact  becomes  apparent  that  it  is  not 
always  or  only  in  the  means  or  method  of  God's 
working,  so  much  as  in  the  result,1  that  we  are  to 
look  for  the  qualities  of  divine  revelation. 

1  Cf.  Hodge  and  Warfield,  as  above. 


26  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 


CHAPTER  II 

NATURALISTIC  SCHEMES   OF  REVELATION — SCOPE 
AND  LIMITS   OF   NATURAL  REVELATION 

It  has  been  seen  in  the  previous  chapter  that  God 
and  revelation  are  correlative  ideas.  Revelation 
is  '  unveiling,'  and  divine  revelation  is  God's 
unveiling  of  the  truth  regarding  Himself  in  some 
manner  and  degree  to  the  intelligence  and  heart 
of  man.  Only  as  He  does  thus  unveil  Himself  does 
He  become  known  to  man.  It  is  futile,  therefore, 
to  set  to  work  to  prove  the  being,  personality  and 
character  of  God  before  studying  the  nature  and 
modes  of  His  self-revelation.  Only  in  studying  the 
revelation  do  we  get  to  know  the  God  who  reveals. 

I.  Nature  versus  Revelation. 

The  statement  just  made,  that,  if  there  is  not  a 
living,  personal  God,  there  can  be  no  proper 
*  revelation,'  might  seem  evident  from  the  very  force 
of  the  terms.  If  nature  be  self-sufficient  and  self- 
explaining,  the  all  and  sole  Reality,  there  can  be  no 
revelation  of  aught  beyond  itself.  There  are  those, 
however,  who  dispute  this,  and  plead  that  nothing 
more  than  nature  is  necessary  as  a  basis  for  religion. 
Nature  is  its  own  revelation.  The  infinite  mystery 
and  wonder  of  the  universe  constitute  it,  on  their 
view,  a  sufficient  object  of  reverence.     For  '  God ' 


ii.]  EEVELATION  AND  INSPIEATION  27 

is  substituted  '  the  All,'  '  the  Universum,'  '  Nature  '  ; 
and  religion,  identified  with  '  cosmic  emotion,' 
becomes  worship  at  the  altar  of  the  Unknowable.1 
Or  the  Pantheism  latent  in  such  expressions  may 
become  explicit,  and  God  be  spoken  of  as  the 
Eternal  Power,  Spirit,  Energy,  which  reveals  or 
discovers  itself  in  outward  appearances.  So  long, 
however,  as  the  idea  of  revelation  is  arrested  at  this 
stage, — so  long  as  the  process  of  manifestation  is 
regarded  as  a  necessary  one,  be  the  necessity  physical, 
or  be  it  logical, — revelation  in  the  proper  sense 
cannot  be  spoken  of.  The  only  idea  of  God  which 
answers  to  the  idea  of  revelation  is  that  of  a  Being 
who  has  character  and  will — power  to  reveal,  and 
purpose  and  end  in  revealing, — who  is  self-conscious 
personal,  and  ethical.2 

II.  Natural  Revelation — How  to  be  Conceived. 

It  must  be  left  to  the  course  of  the  discussion  to 
justify  the  assumption  that  this  is  truly  the  nature 
of  the  Being  who  has  become  known  to  us  through 
the  various  modes  of  His  self -revelation.  It  is 
the  manner  of  this  self-revelation  which  is  now  to 
be  considered.  And  a  first  question  relates  to  the 
place  to  be  accorded  to  Natural  Revelation. 

1.  A  distinction  made  by  Ewald  in  his  treatment 

1  Cf.  Strauss's  Der  alte  und  der  neue  Glauoe  ;  Seeley's  Natural  Re- 
ligion, and  similar  works.  For  a  good  criticism,  see  Bruce,  The 
Miracidous  Elements  in  the  Gospels,  pp.  378  ff. 

2  Even  Mr.  Spencer  speaks  of  the  Power  manifested  in  evolution 
as  in  some  sense  self-revealing.  He  speaks  of  '  the  naturally- 
revealed  end  towards  which  the  Power  manifested  throughout 
evolution  works'  {Data  of  Ethics,  p.  171).  Cf.  a  striking  passage 
in  his  First  Principles,  p.  123. 


28  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

of  revelation  may  furnish  us  with  a  starting-point.1 
Ewald  begins  his  discussion  of  this  subject  by 
distinguishing  between  what  he  calls  immediate  and 
mediate  revelation.  The  '  immediate "  revelation, 
in  his  view,  is  without  a  sufficiently  clear  and 
perfectly  sure  word,  and  embraces  the  original 
revelation  given  in  the  human  spirit  in  creation, 
the  creation  itself  as  it  stands  in  its  glory  and 
perfection  before  the  gaze  of  man's  spirit,  and  the 
whole  history  of  the  human  race,  which  to  the 
prepared  mind  teaches  truths  of  eternal  freshness 
and  force.  '  Mediate '  revelation,  which  alone,  he 
says,  deserves  the  name  revelation  in  the  fullest 
sense,  expresses  itself,  on  the  other  hand,  in  intel- 
ligible and  distinct  words.  It  is  the  word  of  God 
through  human  discourse.  The  word  of  God  thus 
mediated  is  declared  to  have  a  truly  supernatural 
source,  and  to  stand  in  connection  with  definite 
historical  occasions.  The  obvious  criticism  to  be 
made  on  this  distinction,  in  many  ways  suggestive, 
is,  that  the  natural  revelation  is  also  in  a  true  sense 
'  mediate,' — is  mediated  by  the  whole  system  and 
course  of  things  through  which  it  comes, — and  that 
the  higher  or  supernatural  revelation,  assuming 
such  to  exist,  is  not  always  or  only,  as  indeed  Ewald 
himself  recognises,  through  human  discourse,  but  is 
primarily,  as  before  indicated,  through  acts  or  deeds 
of  God — through  divine  facts  which  human  speech 
interprets  or  conveys. 

The  distinction  which  Ewald  has  in  view  is  better 
reached  by  speaking  simply,  as  is  more  usual,  of 
general  and  special,  or  of  natural  and  supernatural 

1  Cf.  his  Revelation :  its  Nature  and  Record  (E.  T.  of  first  volume 
of  his  Die  Lehre  der  Bibel  von  Oott),  pp.  5  ff. 


il]  revelation  AND  INSPIRATION  29 

revelation.  The  former  is  perhaps  the  preferable 
expression,  if  only  for  the  reason  already  given, 
that  all  revelation,  even  when  mediated  through 
only  natural  means,  is  supernatural,  in  the  sense 
that  it  has  a  supernatural  basis,  and  that  it  is  super- 
natural truth  that  is  revealed. 

2.  The  reality  of  a  natural  revelation  of  God  is 
everywhere  assumed  in  Scripture,1  and  in  some 
sense  has  generally  been  conceded  by  serious  minds. 
Yet  the  attitudes  taken  up  to  this  natural  revelation 
at  different  periods,  and  by  different  schools  of 
thinkers,  have  greatly  varied.  In  Christian  circles 
there  has  usually  been  the  attempt  to  do  justice  to 
all  the  truth  about  God  made  known  through 
natural  means,  while  upholding  the  need  and  reality 
of  revelation  of  a  higher  and  more  special  kind  for 
the  guidance  of  man  into  the  full  knowledge  of  God's 
character  and  will,  and  for  the  ends  of  man's 
redemption.  This  balance  of  view,  however,  it  is 
difficult  rightly  to  maintain  ;  and  frequently,  in 
the  history  of  religious  thought,  the  opposite 
tendencies  have  been  witnessed,  on  the  one  hand,  to 
the  over-exaltation  of  the  natural  revelation,  on  the 
other,  to  its  undue  belittlement. 

(1)  The  eighteenth  century  may  be  said  to  be  the 
period,  par  excellence,  of  the  exaltation  of  the  powers 
of  reason,  and  the  assertion  of  the  all-sufficiency 
of  natural  revelation.  The  Deism  of  that  century 
had  for  its  aim  to  exhibit  the  revelation  of  God  in 
nature  as  yielding  a  few  simple,  unchanging  truths 
about  God,  virtue,  immortality,  and  future  recom- 
pense^— those  truths  of  which  all  positive  religions, 

i  E.g.  Pss.  viii.  ;  xix.  1-5 ;  cxix.  89-91 ;  Is.  xl.  12-14,  26 ;  Acts 
xiv.  15-17 ;  Rom.  i.  19,  20. 


30  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

with  their  priestcrafts,  were  the  corruptions — and 
this  in  so  clear  a  manner  as  to  render  superfluous 
all  special  or  miraculous  revelation.  This  Deistical 
phase  passed  with  the  assaults  of  a  sceptical  and 
critical  philosophy  on  its  foundations,  and  with  the 
recognition  that  there  never  had  been,  nor  could  be, 
any  such  universal  '  natural  religion '  ;  that  what 
was  put  forth  as  such  was  simply  a  colourless 
abstract  of  truths  borrowed  from  the  positive 
religions,  and  especially  from  Christianity — truths 
which,  separated  from  their  vital  roots  in  these 
religions,  had  no  emotional  or  spiritual  value. 

(2)  It  is  not  surprising  that,  in  recoil  from  a  lifeless 
Deism  and  a  speculative  rationalism,  the  opposite 
tendency  has  sometimes  been  manifested  to  do  less 
than  justice  to  the  natural  revelation.  More 
recently,  this  tendency  is  specially  apparent  in  the 
German  Ritschlian  school,  which,  on  the  ground  of 
a  theoretic  Agnosticism  derived  from  Kant,  and  a 
theory  of  religion  which  seeks  in  the  help  of  superior 
powers  deliverance  from  the  thwarting  influences  of 
man's  natural  environment,  would  expel  '  natural 
theology '  altogether  from  Christianity,  and  rest 
everything  on  the  '  revelation- value '  of  the  Person 
of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  not  denied  by  Ritschl  and 
his  followers  that  in  some  sense  there  is  '  revelation  ' 
also  in  the  lower  stages  of  religion.  But  it  is  not 
the  kind  of  revelation  which  the  ordinary  '  natural 
theology '  supposes,  and,  whatever  its  worth  for 
its  immediate  recipients,  it  is  viewed  as  now  left 
behind,  and  valueless  for  Christians.1 

(3)  This,  however,  is  too  obviously  an  exaggeration 
to  find  general  acceptance.     Once  more,  accordingly, 

*  Cf.  Herrmann,  Op.  cit.  pp.  49,  50,  53-4. 


il]  EEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  31 

the  wheel  has  turned,  and  partly  as  a  development 
from  Ritschlianism  itself,  partly  as  a  result  of  wider 
tendencies  in  the  culture  of  the  age,  a  new  '  religious- 
historical  '  school  has  arisen,  which,  merging 
Christianity  in  the  general  stream  of  religious 
development,  and  again  universalising  the  idea  of 
revelation,  includes  all  religions  equally  as  phases 
of  this  development.  Agreeing  with  Deism  and 
speculative  rationalism  in  the  rejection  of  super- 
natural revelation,  this  school  differs  from  the 
former  in  renouncing  the  abstract  point  of  view,  and 
attaching  itself  to  the  idea  of  the  historical  evolution 
of  religion,  and  from  the  latter  in  seeking  the  origin 
of  religion  in  practical  impulses,  and  refusing  to 
regard  it  as  simply  the  vehicle  of  rational  and 
moral  ideas.  As  it  is  this  school  which  is  at  present 
coming  to  the  front,  it  is  desirable  to  give  it  closer 
attention. 

III.  Bousset  on  Religion  and  Revelation. 

It  will  help  to  the  comprehension  of  the  positions 
of  the  '  religious-historical  *  school  if  a  single  book 
be  accepted  for  guidance,  and  for  this  purpose  a 
better  aid  could  not  be  desired  than  is  afforded  by 
Professor  W.  Bousset's  recently-published  work, 
What  is  Religion  ? 

Here,  to  begin  with,  are  a  few  sentences  from  this 
book  on  the  general  standpoint : 

'  History  would  appear  to  destroy  the  idea  of 
inspiration — that  is  to  say,  of  any  special  revelation — 
in  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  .  .  .  And  what  if 
nistory  wTere  right  ?  Suppose  this  view  were  the 
true  one  ?     In  that  case  only  a  bold  step  forward 


32  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

will  save  us.  If  the  science  of  history  demands 
that  the  seals  be  broken,  and  the  special  revelation 
be  surrendered,  then  we  must  seriously  consider 
the  idea  of  a  universal  revelation.'  * 

Earlier  :  '  It  is  no  question  of  This  religion  is  true, 
that  is  false ;  everywhere  we  perceive  growth, 
evolution,  imperfection  striving  towards  perfection. 
.  .  .  The  whole  history  of  the  religious  life  of  man- 
kind stands  to  us  as  the  great  handiwork  of  God, 
a  ceaseless  apparition  and  constant  intercourse  of 
God  with  man,  of  man  with  his  Maker,  in  accordance 
with  the  stage  to  which  he  has  attained.'  2 

The  theme  of  the  book  is  then  developed  thus. 
In  accordance  with  his  standpoint,  Bousset  first 
explains  what  religion  is — desire  for  life,  belief  in 
gods  or  a  god,  surrender  and  sacrifice,  longing  for 
redemption ; — and  how  it  originates — in  man's  sense 
of  wonder  ('  on  the  boundary-line  between  the 
known  and  the  Unknown'3),  and  in  the  animistic 
principle  moving  the  savage  to  people  nature  with 
innumerable  spirits  and  ghosts  of  the  dead.  Religion 
is  next  traced  in  its  evolution  from  the  fetishism, 
magic,  and  worship  of  the  dead  of  savages,  through 
tribal  religion,  with  its  idea  of  blood-relationship, 
and  its  loftier  objects  of  worship  ('  in  the  tribal  life 
reverence  for  common  gods  or  for  one  universal  God 
predominates ' 4),  and  national  religions,  as  in 
Babylonia,  Egypt,  and  Greece,  with  their  developed 
polytheisms,  to  the  prophetic  stage.  This  stage, 
held  to  be  more  monotheistic  in  character,  with  a 

i  Pp.  289-90  (E.  T.).  Cf.  Sabatier,  Outlines  of  a  Phil,  of  Rel. 
(E.  T.),  p.  34:  'I  conceive  therefore  that  revelation  is  as  universal 
as  religion  itself,  that  it  descends  as  low,  goes  as  far,  ascends  as  high, 
and  accompanies  it  always.' 

a  P.  9.  »  Pp.  18,  20.  *  P.  58. 


il]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  83 

retrocession  to  religions  of  the  law  ('  in  the  history 
of  religion  the  valleys  succeed  the  heights '  l),  is 
represented  by  Zarathustra,  Buddha,  and  Con- 
fucius, by  Socrates  and  Plato  in  Greece,  above  all 
by  the  prophets  of  Israel.  Finally,  from  the  pro- 
phetic impulse  proceed  '  religions  of  redemption ' 
(Buddhism,  Platonism),  and,  as  the  highest  of  these, 
Christianity.  The  religion  of  Jesus,  with  its 
spiritual  view  of  God,  its  freedom  from  nationality 
and  ceremonial,  its  moral  aim,  and  its  proclamation 
of  redemption  ('  Christianity  is  the  religion  of  moral 
redemption,  and  its  highest  good  is  the  forgiveness 
of  sin  and  guilt,  and  the  freeing  of  the  will  towards 
the  good' 2),  is  that  which,  '  if  there  is  to  be  only 
one  religion,  must  be  the  religion  of  the  progressive 
nations  of  the  earth.'  3 

It  is  carefully  to  be  observed,  however,  where 
Christianity  is  spoken  of,  that,  in  our  author's  view, 
the  Christianity  of  the  future  is  to  be  a  Christianity 
completely  purified  from  all  its  ordinarily  accepted 
supernatural  elements.  The  '  Pauline-Lutheran ' 
conception  of  Christianity,  it  is  declared,  '  cannot 
any  longer  be  accepted  in  modern  life,  with  its 
absolutely  independent  attitude.' 4  '  All  is  here 
based  on  the  opposition  between  sin  and  grace, 
and  in  the  centre  of  religion  is  placed  the  conscious- 
ness of  sin,  and  the  consolation  of  freedom  from  sin 
and  guilt.' 6  Such  a  conception,  it  is  said,  cannot 
stand.  '  We  can  no  longer  speak  of  the  "  divinity  " 
of  Christ.'  6  '  The  belief  in  the  special  significance  of 
Christ's  sacrificial  death  '  is  repudiated  by  our  moral 
consciousness.7      Human     corruption     cannot     be 

i  P.  136.  2  Pp.  267-8.  3  p.  269.  *  P.  277. 

»  P.  276.  «  P.  279.  '  P.  281. 


34  EEVELATION  AND  INSPIEATION  [ch. 

preached.1  Miracles,  of  course,  have  no  place  in 
the  new  scheme.2  '  Christianity,  in  its  essential 
idea,  dominant  up  to  the  present,  is  based  on  a 
fundamental  conception  utterly  opposed  to  the 
ideal  of  life  which  has  just  been  described.  The 
narrow  Pauline  idea  of  redemption,  which  was 
developed  by  St.  Augustine,  and  strengthened 
anew  by  Luther,  still  dominates  it.'  3  This  must  be 
parted  with.  '  If  we  accept  in  its  entirety  this 
conception,  if,  that  is,  we  take  from  modern  life  its 
very  essence,  and  force  it  to  self-renunciation,  we 
shall  have  absolutely  to  cast  on  one  side  such  com- 
plete and  great  figures  as  those  of  Goethe  and  Bis- 
marck.' 4  This  last  consideration,  naturally,  is, 
with  the  author,  final. 

IV.  Criticism  of  Bousset's  Theory. 

With  full  acknowledgment  of  the  many  interest- 
ing side-lights  thrown  on  the  history  of  religion  by 
Bousset's  book,  the  general  criticism  which  suggests 
itself  on  the  scheme  unfolded  in  it  may  be  very  simply 
stated.  It  is  not  historical ;  it  does  not  do  justice 
to  the  true  idea  of  religion,  and  at  every  stage  hope- 
lessly mixes  up  things  that  differ ;  it  negates  the 
true  conception  of  revelation,  and  removes  from 
Christianity  the  elements  which  alone  give  it  vitality, 
and  enable  it  to  do  the  work  required  of  it.  In  an 
important  sense,  its  end  contradicts  its  beginning. 
This  general  judgment  it  is  now  necessary  to  justify. 

1.  The  scheme  professes  to  be  evolutionary. 
Evolution,  however,  in  the  right  conception  of  it, 
is  a  process  in  which  one  continuous  life  is  seen 

»  P.  278.  a  P.  284.  s  P.  275.  4  Pp.  274,  276-7. 


ii.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  35 

unfolding  itself  ;  in  which  one  stage  is  seen  emerging 
from  another,  to  give  place,  in  turn,  to  a  higher 
stage.  It  is  not  a  true  historical  evolution  when, 
as  here,  different  types  of  religion,  higher  and  lower 
grades  of  social  existence,  in  different  parts  of  the 
world,  are  set  in  order  of  succession,  with  no  attempt 
at  proof  that  one  has  really  grown  from  the  other, 
or  stands  in  any  genetic  relation  to  the  other.  It 
would  be  to  the  purpose  if,  following  up  the  history 
of  any  one  race  or  people,  it  were  shown  that  it  had 
passed  by  internal  development  through  the  stages 
indicated,  or  that,  at  least,  the  gains  of  one  people 
had  been  appropriated  by  another,  and  there  carried 
up  to  something  higher. 

(1)  This,  however,  is  precisely  what  is  not  done. 
Savage  races  are  described  (Polynesian,  Indian, 
Mongolian,  Negro,  etc.)  —  fetishist,  unprogressive, 
without  chronology,  incapable  of  fixed  tribal  union 
(though  some  of  them  are  shown  to  have  a  highly 
developed  tribal  life  ]).  But  proof  is  lacking  of  any 
such  race  or  tribe  having  emerged  historically  from 
that  condition  by  self- development,  without  contact 
with  a  higher  civilisation.  National  religions  are 
depicted ;  but  it  is  not  shown  that  the  higher 
elements  in  the  Babylonian,  Egyptian,  Greek,  or 
Vedic  religions,  were  historically  developed  out  of 
the  fetishism,  animism,  ghost- worship,  or  totemism, 
of  the  savage  state,  or  were  preceded  by  them  ; 
still  less  that  these  polytheistic  religions  became 
simpler,  purer,  or  more  monotheistic  in  the  course 
of  their  development,  instead  of  becoming,  as  is 
historically  the  case,  constantly  more  idolatrous, 
superstitious,    and    corrupt.     Prophecy    is    treated 

1  Pp.  55-6. 


36  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

as  a  stage  in  religious  evolution  ;  but  it  fails  to  be 
shown  that  prophecy  in  Israel  —  that  unique 
phenomenon — had  really  any  analogy  to  Buddhism 
or  Platonism,  or  sprang  from  like  causes,  or  that  an 
outcome  like  Christianity  was  the  product  of  develop- 
ment in  any  other  people  or  religion  but  that  of 
Israel. 

(2)  It  has,  in  short,  to  be  shown  that  the  higher 
elements  in  the  historical  religions  are  evolved  out  of 
the  lower,  and  this  is  not  done  and  cannot  be  done. 
The  spirit- worship,  magic,  ancestor-worship,  etc., 
which  is  so  common  a  feature  among  savages  subsists 
as  a  lower  stratum  also  in  higher  religions ;  but  it  is 
not  shown  that  the  higher  is  a  development  out  of  it. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  inconsequently  allowed  that 
the  lower  races  which  cherish  these  superstitions 
have  also  the  idea  of  a  supreme  God,  though  they 
do  not  ordinarily  worship  Him ; l  that  '  in  the  tribal 
life  reverence  for  common  gods  or  for  one  universal 
God  predominates ' ; 2  and  that  '  most  widespread 
of  all  is  the  worship  of  the  heavenly  God — that  is, 
of  Heaven  itself — which  is  not  regarded  as  con- 
sisting of  the  many  powers  mentioned  above,  but 
as  a  single,  powerful  being,  .  .  .     The  well-known 

1  '  Most  of  the  Negro  races  recognise  a  powerful  heavenly  being, 
or  god,  that  is  to  say,  a  giver  of  life,  Heaven — not  yet  divided  into 
different  divine  forms,' etc.  .  .  .  'The  same  remark  applies  to  the 
Malay-Polynesian  race.  An  Almighty  God  is  there  recognised, 
etc.  (p.  39).  These  races  also  regard  it  'as  a  matter  of  course  that 
in  the  human  body  there  dwells  an  independent  vital  essence — the 
soul,'  and  that  'the  soul  never  dies'  (pp.  47-8).  Side  by  side  with 
such  statements  are  the  customary  exaggerations,  that  'the  differ- 
ence between  man  and  animal  is  not  felt,'  '  the  savage  has  no  under- 
standing of  the  connection  of  things,'  'uncivilised  man  does  not 
yet  know  that  the  light  of  day  proceeds  from  the  swi,'  etc.  (pp.  33, 
34,  59).  2  p.  58. 


ii.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  37 

similarity  of  names  is  clear  evidence  that  the 
Indo-Germanic  race  before  its  separation  into 
different  tribes  had  a  common  possession  in  the 
worship  of  the  God  of  heaven.' x  When  the  national 
stage  is  reached,  a  new  explanation  is  given  of  poly- 
theism— with  which  is  now  connected  image- 
worship — in  the  separate  tribes  which  unite  to  form 
the  nation  bringing  their  tribal  deities  (assumed  to 
be  single)  with  them.2  This  polytheism  becomes 
ever  more  firmly-rooted,  intricate,  and  mythological. 
So  far,  in  truth,  from  a  spiritual  monotheism  being 
the  natural  outcome  of  this  development,  there  are, 
as  has  often  been  remarked,  even  till  this  hour,  only 
three  monotheistic  religions  in  the  world — Judaism, 
Christianity,  and  Mohammedanism — and  all  three 
are  derived  from  the  Bible. 

(3)  The  ethical  evolution  which  the  theory  postulates 
is  as  little  established  as  the  religious.  Is  it  true, 
for  example,  that  in  the  Greek  and  Indian  religions, 
'  the  gods  became  the  spiritual  powers  which,  in 
accordance  with  eternal,  inviolable  laws,  guide  the 
destinies  of  the  nations  in  holiness  and  righteous- 
ness ?  '  3  Or  mark  the  blunting  of  ethical  conceptions 
involved  in  such  a  conjunction  of  sentences  as  the 
following  : — '  The  phenomenon  of  simple  absorption 
in  the  Godhead  now  develops  into  horrible  human 
sacrifice,  especially  in  the  form  of  sacrifice  of  children, 
and  of  prostitution  '  (illustrations  are  given  from  the 
Mexican  religion,  from  sacrificing  to  Moloch,  from 
Phoenicia,  from  prostitution  in  the  service  of  the 
Canaanitish-Syrian  Astarte,  etc.).  .  .  .  'Already 
we  have  wandered  a  good  distance.  Already  we 
see  that  the  religious  life  is  striving  after  higher 

i  p.  60.  2  P.  71.  3  P.  20. 


38  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

[!]  forms,  that  a  common  faith  is  rising  above  the 
arbitrary  thoughts  and  fantasies  of  the  individual.' 1 

2.  Viewed  in  its  bearings  on  revelation,  an  evolu- 
tionary theory  of  this  sort  does  not  universalise,  but 
in  reality  excludes,  revelation  proper.  Bousset 
contends  rightly  that  '  wherever  we  have  religious 
life  the  gods  (or  the  Godhead)  are  regarded  as 
absolute  realities,  more  real  even  than  human  life.' 2 
Even  he,  however,  will  not  argue  that  the  fetishes,  or 
multitudinous  spirits  of  woods,  hills,  rivers,  or  the 
Baals,  and  Astartes,  and  Molochs,  of  tribal  and 
national  worship,  are  real  beings,  or  aught  but 
projections  of  the  religious  mind  creating  imaginary 
objects  for  itself.3  It  is  not  denied  that  a  certain 
perception  of  the  divine  in  nature — a  true  element 
of  the  natural  revelation  —  may  lie  behind ;  but 
the  embodiments  of  this  perception  are  purely 
fanciful,  products  of  a  childish  interpretation  of 
nature,  or  something  worse,  horrible  perversions 
of  the  idea  of  deity.  The  idea  of  the  true  God, 
when  it  comes,  displaces  these  false  conceptions, 
is  not  an  evolution  from  them.  Reality  is  not 
developed  out  of  unreality.  It  is  playing  with  words, 
for  example,  to  treat  the  Yahweh  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment as  at  first  a  storm  or  wind  god — an  unreal  being 
—  created  by  man's  own  phantasy,  then  to  regard 
this  as  the  first  stage  in  the  revelation  of  the  real 
Yahweh  of  the  prophets — the  living  and  true  God — 
who  chose  Israel  at  the  beginning  to  be  His  people. 

3.  This,  finally,  is  what  is  meant  by  saying  that 

i  P.  67.  2  P.  17. 

9  Contrasting  these  ideas  with  pheuoiiKua  due  to  hypnotic  sugges- 
tion, etc.,  Bousset  himself  speaks  of  them,  apparently,  as  fantasies 
and  products  of  the  imagination  (p.  46). 


ii.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  39 

the  end  of  the  supposed  evolutionary  process  con- 
tradicts its  beginning.  The  culmination  of  the 
process  is  not  even  the  God  of  the  prophets,  but  is 
the  God  and  Father  of  Jesus  Christ — a  holy  God 
and  heavenly  Father,  who  loves  His  children,  and 
is  infinitely  tender  and  pitiful  toward  them  ;  whe 
surrounds  them  at  every  moment  with  His  pro- 
vidential care,  and  seeks  to  bring  them  to  the  know- 
ledge and  love  of  Himself ;  who  abhors  and  judges 
sin,  yet  is  full  of  mercy  to  the  returning  sinner.  Is 
it  conceivable  that  such  a  God  should  have  no  means 
of  access  to  the  souls  He  has  made  other  than  that 
of  evolutionary  development  ?  Or  that  He  should 
choose  as  the  only  path  by  which  man,  through  un- 
counted millenniums,  should  rise  to  the  know- 
ledge of  Himself  this  tortuous  way  of  sin,  error, 
and  vile  and  hideous  practice  ?  Or  that  this  actually 
was  the  path  by  which  man  at  length  climbed  to  the 
consummate  heights  of  the  consciousness  of  Jesus 
Christ  ?  Must  we  not  in  consistency,  either  alter 
our  ideas  of  the  method  of  revelation,  or,  retaining 
these,  give  up  the  conception  of  God  attained  through 
Christ  at  the  end  ? 

V.  Sources  of  Natural  Revelation. 

Yet  the  natural  revelation  remains — in  large  part, 
as  may  be  conceded  to  the  Deist,  unchanged  from 
the  creation  ;  in  another  and  wider  respect,  cease- 
lessly progressive,  as  man's  own  thoughts  grow 
wider,  as  his  knowledge  of  himself  and  of  the  natural 
universe  increases,  as  the  scroll  of  God's  purposes 
is  gradually  unrolled  in  history.  Ewald  was  right 
in  speaking  of  this  revelation  as  one  both  within  and 


40  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

without  man — as  furnished  in  the  very  constitution 
of  his  own  being,  in  the  glory  and  order  of  the 
universe  as  it  displays  itself  before  him,  and  in  the 
course  of  events  of  which  he  forms  a  part. 

1.  Analysing  the  sources  of  this  revelation  a 
little  further,  we  distinguish  the  following  : — 

(1)  First,  there  is  the  revelation  within  man,  in 
man's  own  heart,  from  the  beginning,  in  the  sense 
of  dependence  on  inscrutable  powers,  or  on  a  Power, 
above  and  around  him  (one  thinks  here  of  Schleier- 
macher's  '  feeling  of  absolute  dependence,'  or  of  the 
consciousness  of  the  Absolute,  taken  by  H.  Spencer 
to  be  a  constituent  element  in  all  experience) ;  while, 
stirring  within  him,  likewise  from  the  beginning, 
is  a  rational  spiritual  nature,  which  will  not  let  him 
rest  till  he  has  found  an  object  adequate  to  his 
highest  ideal — a  God  infinite,  personal,  ethical,  and 
revealing.  Later,  as  man  comes  reflectively  to  know 
himself,  but  still  as  part  of  this  self-revelation  of  the 
divine,  is  the  discovery  made  that  God  is  the  im- 
plicate of  his  entire  rational  and  moral  life, — the 
ultimate  postulate  of  moral  consciousness  (Kant), 
of  personal  selfhood  (Ritschl),  of  rational  thought 
(Hegel).  The  whole  distance  is  thus  spanned 
between  man's  first,  simplest,  and  most  elementary 
sense  of  the  divine,  and  the  last  conclusions  of  the 
profoundest  philosophy  of  spirit. x 

(2)  But,  next,  over  against  man,  the  subject  of 
religion,  stands  the  outer  revelation — that  great, 
continual   manifestation   of   God   in   the   existence, 

1  The  truth  in  such  contentions  as  in  Pfleiderer's  Gifford  Lectures 
or  in  Professor  Watson's  Philosophical  Basis  of  Religion  is  here  taken 
up.  A  sound  philosophy  must  strive  after  a  supreme  unity  which 
comprehends  under  itself  the  Ideas  of  the  true  and  the  good ;  and 
this  is  the  idea  of  God  (Pfieiderer,  i.  p.  32). 


ii.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  41 

stability,  order,  and  manifold  workings  of  His 
natural  creation,  in  the  events  of  man's  life,  and  in 
his  providential  environment.  The  heavens  and 
the  earth  declare  the  glory  of  their  Creator.  That 
which  may  be  known  of  God,  the  Apostle  says,  is 
manifest  through  the  things  that  are  made — even 
His  everlasting  power  and  divinity.1  God  has  not 
left  Himself  without  witness,  in  that  He  did  good, 
and  gave  from  heaven  rains  and  fruitful  seasons. 
A  revelation  this,  which  antecedes  all  logical  reason- 
ing, which  is  universal,  which  is  borne  in  on  man 
insensibly,  irresistibly,  in  all  races  and  stages  of 
culture,  so  long  as  any  spark  of  spiritual  suscep- 
tibility is  left  in  him.  There  is  no  tribe  or  people,  if 
the  best  investigations  may  be  trusted,  but  manifests 
something  of  this  '  sense  of  something  far  more 
deeply  interfused  '  —  this  feeling  of  the  infinite,  as 
Schleiermacher  and  Max  Miiller  would  define  it — 
this  sensus  numinis  of  the  older  writers, — which 
is  the  fact  that  lies  behind  the  term  '  Godhead,'  and 
is  involved  in  the  attribution  of  '  divinity '  to 
superior  powers.2 

(3)  Yet,  while  this  outward  revelation  is  constant, 
and  in  its  essential  content  unchanging,  it,  too,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  is  endlessly  'progressive.  How 
immensely,  e.g.,  has  science,  through  the  progress 
of  discovery,  enlarged  man's  thoughts  of  God  in 
space  and  time,  revolutionising,  for  it  is  nothing 
else,  his  whole  idea  of  the  cosmos  !  In  how 
many  ways  has  it  illuminated    God's    methods  of 

i  Rom.  i.  20. 

2  The  facts  may  be  seen  in  such  works  as  Max  Muller's  Hibbert 
and  Oifford  Lectures,  Waitz's  Anthropologic  (Negro  tribes),  A.  Lang's 
The  Making  of  Religion,  etc. 


42  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

working,  illustrating  His  power  in  things  immeasur- 
ably great,  and  His  care  of  things  infinitely  little, 
giving  demonstration,  in  its  extension  throughout 
the  universe  of  the  reign  of  law,  of  His  faithfulness  ; 
expanding  also — though  here  there  may  be  more 
demur — the  conception  of  His  goodness !  For 
who  can  doubt,  despite  much  that,  to  our  imper- 
fect vision,  must  create  difficulty,  and  leaving  out 
of  view  for  the  moment  the  evil  and  suffering  for 
which  man  himself  is  responsible,  that  the  optimist 
is  right  when  he  declares  that  the  system  of  things 
is,  on  the  whole,  in  its  essential  constitution  and 
tendency,  a  beneficent  one  ?  The  day  may  be  re- 
garded as  past  where  such  a  conception  as  evolution 
was  thought  to  conflict  with,  or  supersede,  the  belief 
in  ends,  plan,  purpose,  intelligent  ordering,  and 
providential  guidance,  in  creation.  These  ideas 
not  simply  stand  secure  ;  they  have  received  firmer 
grounding  in  the  best  thought  of  evolutionary 
science  itself.1 

(4)  The  sources  of  the  natural  knowledge  which 
man  has,  or  may  have,  of  God,  are  thus,  as  seen, 
both  internal  and  external.  It  is  now,  lastly,  to  be 
remarked  that  these  two  sides  of  natural  revelation, 
though  separable  in  idea,  are  not  separable  in  fact. 
The  external  world  would  reveal  nothing  of  God 
without  the  key  afforded  by  man's  own  rational  and 
spiritual  nature.  The  internal,  again, — the  world 
of  personality,  rationality,  morality, — is  evoked 
and  developed  only  through  contact  and  in  inter- 
action with  the  external.  It  is  more,  also,  it  should 
be    observed,   than    an   idea   of    God   which   man 

l  Cf.  on  this  point  R.  Otto,  Naturalism  and  Religion  (E.  T.),  in 
•Crown  Theol.  Library.' 


ii.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  43 

reaches  through  these  combined  influences.  In 
his  own  consciousness,  and  in  the  world  around  him, 
God  is  discovered  to  him  as  an  actually  existing 
Being — a  Reality — an  all-encompassing  Presence — 
immeasurable  indeed,  in  His  greatness,  yet  whose 
attributes  in  some  degree  man  is  capable  of  cognising. 

VI.  Sufficiency  of  Natural  Eevelation. 

The  natural  revelation  of  God  is  therefore  not  to 
be  denied.  A  more  vital  question  arises  when  we 
come  to  speak,  next,  of  the  sufficiency  of  this  natural 
revelation.  If  man's  developing  mind,  working  on 
its  natural  environment,  can  reach  so  much  truth 
about  God,  may  it  not  fairly  be  argued,  not  only  that 
this  is  all  the  knowledge  of  God  which  man  has, 
but  that  it  is  all  the  knowledge  he  needs, — that  it  is 
sufficient  for  all  the  ends  of  his  religious  life  ?  This 
question  requires  consideration. 

1.  One  way  which  may  be  suggested  of  testing  this 
point  is  to  make  the  supposition — a  quite  unhistorical 
one,  indeed, — of  a  mind  which  is  a  'perfectly  pure 
mirror  of  the  natural  revelation, — or,  if  one  will, 
of  a  succession  of  such  minds,  with  all  the  oppor- 
tunities this  gives  for  development, — minds  capable 
of  taking  from  the  revelation  the  utmost  it  is  able 
to  yield, — and  to  ask :  What,  in  such  a  case,  would 
be  the  result  ?  What  would  such  a  mind  (or  minds) 
be  able  to  reach  in  the  knowledge  of  God  from  its 
pure  intuition,  its  sense  of  dependence,  its  impres- 
sions of  nature,  its  observations  of  God's  providence  ? 
Let  the  utmost  be  assumed.  Let  it  be  supposed 
that  it  is  able  to  rise  by  assured  steps  to  the  thought  of 
a  great  Author  of  the  universe, — a  God  all-powerful, 


44  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

all-wise,  beneficent, — that  in  the  strength  of  a  firm 
moral  conviction  it  grasps  the  truth  of  a  providence 
ruling  the  world  for  moral  ends, — that  it  is  pene- 
trated with  reverence  in  presence  of  this  Power,  and 
is  moved  to  the  simpler  acts  of  prayer  and  worship, 
— that  in  the  events  of  life  it  thinks  it  can  discern 
the  guidance  of  God  and  answers  to  its  prayers.  Let 
it  be  assumed  that,  from  other  principles,  in  con- 
junction with  the  religious  impulse,  it  attains  the 
belief  in  the  soul's  survival  of  death,  and  in  an 
enlarged  and  happier  life  hereafter. 

2.  It  is  perhaps  not  quite  just  to  speak  of  this 
development  of  ideas  as  merely  conjecture.  There  is, 
let  it  be  owned,  actually  seen  an  approximation  to 
what  is  here  described,  not  only  as  a  dim  back- 
ground in  most  historical  religions,  but  in  the  beliefs 
held  by  the  nobler  minds  of  all  ages — e.g.,  by  a 
Socrates,  a  Cleanthes,  a  Seneca,  a  Marcus  Aurelius. 
And  the  question  recurs — If  natural  revelation 
can  yield  thus  much,  is  it  not  sufficient  ?  Is 
not  this,  after  all,  the  real  substance  of  religion  ? 
When  prophets  and  other  good  men  received 
what  they  thought  to  be  special  revelations  from 
God,  may  we  not  suspect  that  it  was  simply, 
in  reality,  this  natural  revelation  of  God  which,  in 
one  or  other  of  its  forms,  was  making  itself  felt  in 
their  spirits  ?  In  any  case,  when  we  strip  off 
historical  accidents,  and  seek  '  the  eternal  truth ' 
of  religion,  is  it  not  to  something  like  this  we  come 
back  ?  Are  we  not  here,  in  short,  in  presence  of  the 
'  constants '  of  religion,  of  those  parts  of  it  which, 
in  separation  from  '  dogmas  '  and  doubtful  historical 
facts,  man's  rational  and  moral  consciousness  can 
verify — in  presence,  therefore,  of  its  essential  parts  ? 


ii.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  45 

So  unquestionably  many  in  these  days  think.  A 
little  reflection,  however,  may  modify  this  first 
impression,  and  produce  the  conviction  of  the 
urgent  need  of  special  and  authoritative  revelation 
for  man's  highest  wants. 


46  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 


CHAPTER  III 

NEED   OF  SPECIAL  REVELATION — BIBLICAL  AND 
ETHNIC   REVELATION 

The  attempt  has  been  made  in  the  preceding 
chapter  to  do  justice  to  the  reality  and  scope  of 
natural  revelation.  Some  considerations  may  now 
be  adduced  to  show  that,  grand  and  varied  as 
nature's  testimony  to  God  is  acknowledged  to  be, 
natural  revelation  alone  is  not  adequate  for  the 
spiritual  needs  of  mankind. 

I.  Limits  of  Natural  Eevelation. 

1.  A  first  thing  to  be  observed  is  that,  as  was 
stated  at  the  outset,  the  description  given  of  a 
perfectly  pure  mind — a  mind  serving  as  the  undimmed 
mirror  of  the  natural  revelation — is  entirely  unhistori- 
cal.  A  general  sense  or  impression  of  the  divine  all 
ages  and  races  of  men  have  indeed  manifested  ;  indi- 
vidual thinkers  have  often  risen  to  wonderfully  clear 
and  elevated  views  of  God's  being,  character,  and 
government ;  a  confidence  in  an  all-superintending 
providence,  a  rational  rule  of  the  world — in  itself 
a  kind  of  theism — may  be  traced  in  the  nobler  types 
of  men  in  all  periods  of  history.  It  is  a  fact  just  as 
certain,  that  no  race  or  age  has  ever  shown  itself 
capable,  by  its  own  efforts,  of  rising  to  the  height 
of  the  idea  of  God  as  just  sketched,  of  grasping  it 
clearly  and  steadily,  and  of  connecting  with  it  a  pure 


in.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  47 

and  spiritual  worship.  Impartial  study  shows  the 
history  of  religion  to  have  been  rather  that  of  the 
obscuration  of  what  purer  light  may  originally  have 
been  possessed  ;  the  sinking  of  mankind,  as  Paul 
depicts  in  Rom.  i.  18  ff.,  into  ever  grosser  polytheism 
and  immorality. 

It  is,  in  short,  one  thing  to  admit  that  nature,  in 
its  objective  aspect,  reveals  *  the  everlasting  power 
and  divinity  '  of  its  Creator  ;  and  another  to  affirm 
that  man,  as  modern  theory  regards  him,  with  his 
untutored  intellect,  germinal  conscience,  undeveloped 
powers  of  reflection,  and  strong  propensities  to  the 
sensuous  and  material,  could  evolve  from  that 
revelation  all  it  was  fitted  to  yield  him,  and  create 
for  himself  a  spiritual  conception  of  God,  and  of  his 
duty,  such  as  is  found  in  Holy  Scripture.  The 
pure  mind  which  the  hypothesis  postulates  is  not 
there.  It  never  was ;  and  the  picture  which  history 
yields  of  man  in  his  religious  development  is  not 
such  as  to  yield  high  expectations  of  his  achievements 
in  the  knowledge  of  God.  Once  man  had  lost  the 
true  idea  of  the  divine,  and  permitted  himself  to 
become  involved  in  the  labyrinthine  errors  of 
polytheism,  all  evidence  is  against  the  idea  of  his 
ever  being  able  to  work  himself  out  again. 

From  this  first  point  of  view,  therefore,  the  light 
of  nature  would  seem  to  be  demonstrably  insufficient 
for  man's  need.  Something  further, — a  pure  point 
of  knowledge  of  God,  the  product  of  personal  revela- 
tion,— must  be  given,  if  mankind  is  to  attain  such  a 
knowledge  of  God  as  will  furnish  the  ground  of  a 
pure,  spiritual,  and  intelligent  worship  of  Him ; 
if  it  is  to  be  saved  from  losing  its  way  in  an 
aberration  becoming  continuously  the  more  hope- 


48  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

less.  This  original  point  of  knowledge  must  be 
tended  and  developed  by  further  revelations.  The 
light  vouchsafed  must,  for  its  preservation  and 
enlargement,  go  on  shining,  in  a  succession  of  elect 
spirits,  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 

2.  There  is,  however,  a  second  and  yet  stronger 
call  for  special  revelation.  On  the  assumption  yet 
made,  the  end  of  revelation  would  be  reached  if  it 
furnished  to  man  clearness  and  certainty  on  those 
truths  embraced  in  the  compass  of  natural  revela- 
tion— rational  and  necessary  truths.  This  was  the 
view  of  revelation  advocated  by  Lessing  in  his 
Education  of  the  Human  Race.  Revelation  was  held 
to  be  necessary  solely  for  the  purpose  of  giving  to 
man  clearer  knowledge  and  firmer  assurance  of 
truths  which  reason  could  either  discover,  or  at 
least  could  be  depended  on  ultimately  to  verify, 
for  itself.  Revelation  is  illumination.  Its  content 
is  '  eternal  truths/  and  its  end  is  to  provide  guidance 
for  man  till  reason  should  be  able  to  stand  on  its 
own  feet.1  The  truth  illumined  does  not  go  beyond 
the  truth  of  reason  and  conscience,  or  that  disclosed 
in  nature  and  providence. 

3.  Ewald  has  drawn  attention  to  one  defect  of  anv 
revelation  which  confines  itself  within  these  natural 
limits  2 — it  is  general  and  indiscriminative.  Nature 
is  a  grand  objective  manifestation  of  the  power  and 
divinity  of  the  Creator.  But  that  power  and  divinity 
stand  in  no  specific  relation  to  the  individual.  It  is 
a  general  revelation,  like  the  overarching  sky,  often 
taken  as  its  symbol,  or  like  the  sunshine,  in  which 
each  has  his  share,  but  none  a  distinct  property. 

1  Cf.  on  Lessing,  Bruce,  The  Chief  End  of  Revelation,  pp.  17  ff. 
*  Op.  cit.  pp.  18  ff. 


in.]  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  49 

It  is  the  same  with  reason  and  conscience,  and  with 
the  sense  of  dependence.  These  yield,  indeed, 
*  eternal  truths '  about  God — ideas  of  Him  as 
Rational  Spirit,  Author  and  Upholder  of  Moral 
law,  the  Absolute  Power  on  which  man  and  the 
universe  depend.  But  the  truth  revealed  is  wholly 
general. 

Now  it  should  hardly  need  proof  that  religion,  in 
the  true  idea  of  it,  can  never  be  satisfied  with  this 
general,  almost  impersonal  relation  to  a  God  mani- 
fested in  purely  universal,  relations.  Religion  is  in 
its  essence  a  relation  to  a  Being  who  stands,  or  is 
believed  to  stand,  in  a  personal  relation  to  His 
worshippers — a  relation  which  can  be  satisfied  only 
in  personal  communion.  This  is  seen  even  on  the 
ground  of  heathenism,  a  subject  to  which  further 
reference  will  immediately  be  made.  Heathenism 
is  a  constant  attempt  to  find  means  of  putting  the 
worshipper  and  his  god  into  personal  relations  with 
each  other.  This  is  much  more  manifest  in  the 
Biblical  religion,  in  which  the  craving  of  the  soul  is 
ever  for  immediate,  conscious,  personal  relation  to 
God  ;  for  the  personal  assurance  that  God  is  gracious 
to  it.  This  is  the  nerve  of  the  piety  of  the  psalms, 
and  of  all  true  religion.  '  As  the  hart  panteth  after 
the  water-brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  Thee, 
0  God.' l  All  this,  however,  it  should  be  obvious, 
is  possible  only  on  the  basis  of  a  relation  more 
determinate  than  that  yielded  by  the  general  revela- 
tion of  God  in  nature.  It  means  that  God  has 
descended  from  the  sphere  of  general  unto  that  of 
special  revelation  ;  that  He  has  come  to  man  in 
some  form  of  self-manifestation,  and  given  him  His 

»  Ps.  ilii.  l. 
D 


50  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIKATION  [ch. 

sure  word,  on  which  He  has  caused  him  to  hope.1 
Supposing  man  to  have  attained  to  the  most  perfect 
ideas  of  God  conceivable  through  natural  revelation, 
this  still  would  not  satisfy  the  inmost  craving  of 
religion,  which  is,  not  simply  that  man  should  know 
about  God,  but  that  he  should  get  into  living,  personal, 
relations  of  friendship  with  Him. 

4.  This  is  to  regard  the  need  of  revelation  from 
the  side  of  man.  But  the  need  and  presumption  of 
special  revelation  may  be  shown  to  follow  with  equal 
stringency  from  the  right  idea  of  God.  Man's  heart 
is  yearning  for  a  word  of  God,  a  sign  or  token  of 
recognition  and  love.  Is  God,  on  His  side,  to  remain 
everlastingly  silent  ?  Assume  the  theistic,  which  is 
likewise  the  Christian,  position,  that  God  is  a  personal, 
self-conscious,  ethical,  self-revealing  Being, — a  Being 
whose  nature  is  Fatherly  love,  who  made  man  in 
His  own  image,  and  seeks  to  draw  him  into  fellowship 
with  Himself, — a  Being  who  desires  to  make 
Himself  known  to  man,  and  to  be  known,  loved,  and 
served  by  man, — is  it  conceivable  that  He  should 
remain  for  ever  behind  the  veil  of  nature,  and  be 
content  to  sustain  to  man  only  the  impersonal, 
indefinite  relation  already  described  ?  In  man  there 
is  implanted  the  impulse  to  seek  after  God.  Is  there 
no  corresponding  impulse  in  God  to  draw  near  to 
man,  and  unveil  Himself  to  him  ?  To  quote  Ewald 
again :  '  How  then  should  He  not  answer  the 
earnestly  perseveringly  questioning  spirit  of  man, — 
He  of  whose  Spirit  man's  is  but  a  human  reflection 
and  an  enkindled  spark,  and  to  whom  in  his  searching 
and  questioning  He  can  draw  near  quite  otherwise 
than   to    the   visible   things   in   creation  ? ' i     The 

»  Ps.  cxix.  49.  8  Op.  cit.  p.  18. 


in.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  51 

striving,  seeking,  attaining — is  it  to  be  all  on  man's 
side  ?  Is  it  enough  to  say  :  '  God  is  there  ;  let  man 
find  Him  out'? 

It  is  not  a  sufficient  reply  to  urge  that  God  does 
not  thus  stand  aloof ;  that  He  is  already  there  in 
this  very  striving,  stimulating  the  soul  into  search 
after  Himself.  He  is  behind  the  veil  all  the  while, 
aiding  man's  efforts,  quickening  his  aspirations, 
secretly  answering  his  prayers.  For,  on  the  theory, 
God  does  not  draw  near  to  meet  the  soul  whose 
striving  He  has  secretly  incited.  And  why  only  in 
secret  ?  Why  invisible  and  silent,  when  He  has  the 
power  to  speak,  to  reassure,  to  help  ?  It  is  not 
enough,  again,  to  use  the  word  '  love.'  For  an 
inactive  love, — a  love  that  does  not  display  itself  in 
words  or  deeds, — can  satisfy  no  one.  A  general 
benevolence  cannot  take  the  place  of  love.  If  God 
is  truly  love,  He  may  be  expected  to  manifest  His 
love  in  seeking  closer,  personal,  relations  with  man. 
It  follows,  as  has  been  argued  elsewhere,1  that  the 
only  Theism  which  can  remain  tenable  is  a  Theism 
which  completes  itself  in  a  doctrine  of  special 
revelation.  The  word  '  law  ' — to  some  almost  a 
fetish — need  terrify  no  one  in  this  connection. 
Without  anticipating  later  discussion,  the  one  thing 
that  may  be  held  certain  a  priori  of  the  Almighty 
Author  of  the  universe,  assuming  Him  to  be  personal, 
free,  and  loving,  is  that  He  will  not  bind  His  hands 
by  natural  ordinances  in  any  such  way  as  will 
preclude  His  effective  interposition  for  the  help  of 
His  moral  creatures,  when  they  need  and  seek  His 
help. 

5.  To   adduce   only   one   other   consideration   on 

1  Cf.  The  Christian  View  of  God  and  the  World,  pp.  62-5. 


52  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

this  subject — if  the  need  of  revelation  follows  from  a 
true  idea  of  God,  and  of  religion  as  personal  fellow- 
ship, it  as  surely  follows  from  a  right  idea  of  the 
plan  of  the  world.  History  is  not,  any  more  than 
nature,  given  up  to  fortuity.  God  has  His  plan 
and  end  in  it,  the  supreme  end,  as  Kant  rightly 
deduced,  being  the  establishment  of  a  perfect  moral 
fellowship,  or  Kingdom  of  God,  among  men.  Such 
a  plan  is  not  wrought  out  automatically,  or  through 
impersonal,  unconsciously  working  laws  of  evolution. 
It  can  only  be  wrought  out  along  definite  lines, 
through  the  conscious,  intelligent,  voluntary, 
co-operation  of  men.  But  how  is  man  ever  to  co- 
operate intelligently  with  God  in  the  furtherance 
of  His  world-purpose  if  he  is  left  wholly  in  the  dark 
about  it  ?  How  can  he  ever  be  trusted  to  discover 
it  for  himself,  or  to  know  the  part  God  wills  him  to 
take  in  it  ?  Is  it  a  higher  view  of  history,  to  regard 
man  as  groping  and  stumbling  in  the  dark,  or  to 
conceive  of  him  as  taken  in  hand  by  God,  taught 
and  disciplined  by  God,  in  a  manner  suitable  to 
each  stage  in  the  development  of  His  purpose, 
made  an  intelligent  co-worker  with  God  in  the 
accomplishment  of  His  ends  ?  If  this  plan  of  God  is 
further  regarded,  as  in  Christianity,  as  redemptive 
and  remedial — a  work  of  grace  from  its  inception 
to  its  consummation — the  need  of  revelation  to 
enable  man  to  avail  himself  of  its  provision,  and  to 
realise  its  aims,  is  seen  to  be  imperative. 

II.  Heathen  Need  of  Revelation. 

The   considerations  now  advanced   suffice,   it  is 
hoped,  to  show  the  need  and  the  reasonableness  of 


in.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  53 

special  revelation,  as  well  as  to  create  a  powerful 
presumption  in  its  favour.  There  is  good  sense 
in  a  remark  of  Paley's,  in  the  commencement  of 
his  Evidences,  which  may  be  here  quoted.  '  I  deem 
it  unnecessary,'  he  says,  '  to  prove  that  mankind 
stood  in  need  of  a  revelation,  because  I  have  met 
with  no  serious  person  who  thinks  that,  even  under 
the  Christian  revelation,  we  have  too  much  light 
or  any  degree  of  assurance  which  is  superfluous.' 
He  adds  :  '  I  desire  moreover  that,  in  judging  of 
Christianity,  it  may  be  remembered,  that  the 
question  lies  between  this  religion  and  none  ;  for, 
if  the  Christian  religion  be  not  credible,  no  one, 
with  whom  we  have  to  do,  will  support  the  pre- 
tension of  any  other.' 

If  confirmation  of  this  need  of  special  revelation 
be  required,  it  can  be  found  in  abundance  on  the 
field  of  Heathenism.  Not  infrequently,  by  way  of 
discrediting  the  Biblical  claim  to  revelation,  appeal 
is  made  to  the  widespread  craving  for  revelation, 
and  the  attempts  to  satisfy  this  craving,  in  the 
heathen  world.  The  oracles,  divinations,  necro- 
mancies, and  other  modes  of  interrogating  the 
unseen,  are  dwelt  upon,  and  it  is  asked — Does  not 
this  evidence  of  a  universal  belief  in  revelation, 
and  eagerness  in  seeking  after  it,  prove  that  the 
claim  to  special  revelation  in  the  Bible  must  be 
dismissed  as  baseless  ? 

In  reality  the  phenomena  in  question  prove  the 
very  opposite.  The  craving  for  communion  with 
the  unseen  manifested  in  them x  may  not  prove  that 

1  Cf.  Pfleiderer,  Phil,  of  Eel.  iv.  pp.  48-9.  The  juggler  and  the 
charlatan,  he  says,  traded  'on  the  need  of  revelation  felt  alike  by 
people  and  by  sages.' 


54  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

the  oracles,  auguries,  soothsayings,  and  like  super- 
stitions in  heathen  religions  are  true  ;  but  they  do 
prove  the  profound  and  inextinguishable  need 
which  has  ever  been  felt  in  heathenism  for  special 
revelation.  The  one  thing  they  show  to  demon- 
stration is,  that,  whoever  is  satisfied  with  the 
measure  of  knowledge  of  God  given  in  natural 
revelation,  it  is  not  the  people  who  are  left  to  that 
revelation,  or  whose  light  is  dimmer  than  our  own. 
In  all  ages  these  have  eagerly  desired  more,  and, 
in  default  of  such  better  revelation,  have  sought  to 
still  their  craving  by  resort  to  oracles  and  sorceries.1 
It  is  not  the  lower  order  of  minds  only  that  have 
experienced  this  craving.  It  is  the  sages  of  heathen- 
ism who  have  felt  the  need  most  profoundly.  The 
brilliant  philosophical  systems  of  the  ancient  world 
gave  neither  certainty  nor  content ;  in  Greece  and 
Rome  alike  they  are  seen  ending  in  scepticism.  A 
universal  uncertainty  on  the  highest  questions  of 
existence  was  the  most  marked  feature  of  the  age 
in  which  Christ  appeared.  As  Plato  affirmed,  the 
Father  of  all  is  hard  to  find,  and,  when  He  is  found, 
it  is  impossible  to  make  Him  known  to  all.2  And 
in  the  Phaedo  he  makes  the  friend  of  Socrates  express 

1  Cf.  Orelli,  Prophecy  (E.  T.),  p.  23:  'The  universal  search  of  the 
nations  for  revelation  of  the  Deity  and  indications  of  His  will  proves 
a  vividly-felt  need  of  self -revelation  on  His  part,  a  need  making  itself 
directly  felt  in  man  as  he  stands  with  childlike  simplicity  in  presence 
of  God  and  nature.  But,  although  points  of  attachment  were  given 
to  the  nations  in  nature  and  history,  intellect,  and  conscience,  in 
which  they  might  discern  the  Deity,  still  the  uncertain  superstitious, 
inquisitive,  and  insane  feeling  after  a  divine  revelation  beyond  the 
sphere  in  which  God  was  pleased  to  make  Himself  known  to  them, 
show  how  little  these  revelations  could  satisfy  the  natural  man,  with 
his  nature  corrupted  and  his  power  of  perception  weakened  by  sin.' 

2  In  the  Timaeus. 


hi.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  55 

the  need  for  some  word  of  God  which  will  more  surely 
and  safely  carry  them  when  the  raft  of  human 
opinion  fails.1 

III.  Biblical  and  Ethnic  Revelation. 

Suppose  now,  however,  it  is  granted  that  special 
revelation,  as  alone  adequate  to  satisfy  the  religious 
needs,  and  support  true  faith  in  God  and  His  pur- 
pose, is  not  only  possible  and  reasonable,  but  is 
probable,  the  question  of  the  relation  of  heathenism 
to  revelation  is  by  no  means  exhausted.  The 
probability  of  special,  supernatural  revelation — 
supernatural  in  the  sense  of  transcending,  not  in 
that  of  contradicting,  the  natural — may  justify  us 
in  looking  for  such  a  revelation  along  the  path 
of  the  history  of  Israel,  and  supremely  in  Christ ; 
but  the  question  remains  to  be  asked  :  Is  this 
privilege  confined  to  Israel  ?  If,  as  is  affirmed, 
natural  revelation  is  insufficient  for  man's  higher 
needs,  and  heathenism  itself  craves  for  something 
better,  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  all  the  nations 
except  Israel  have  been  left  through  the  long  millen- 
niums of  their  history  with  only  the  light  of  natural 

1  '  For  I  dare  say,'  says  Simias,  '  that  you,  Socrates,  feel  as  I  do, 
how  very  hard  or  almost  impossible  is  the  attainment  of  any  certainty 
about  questions  such  as  these  in  the  present  life,  and  yet  I  should 
deem  him  a  coward  who  did  not  prove  what  is  said  about  them  to 
the  uttermost,  or  whose  heart  failed  him  before  he  had  examined 
them  on  every  side.  For  he  should  persevere,  until  he  has  attained 
one  of  two  things  ;  either  he  should  discover  or  learn  the  truth  about 
them  ;  or,  if  this  is  impossible,  I  would  have  him  take  the  best  and 
most  irrefragable  of  human  notions,  and  let  this  be  the  raft  upon 
which  he  sails  through  life — not  without  risk,  as  I  admit,  if  he  cannot 
find  some  sure  word  of  God  which  will  more  surely  and  safely  carry 
him '  (Phaedo,  sect.  85,  Jowett's  trans.). 


56  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

revelation — that  special  revelation  has  been  wholly 
denied  to  them  ? 

In  answering  this  question,  extremes  meet.  On 
the  one  hand  are  found  those  who  would  deny  to  the 
nations — to  the  whole  Gentile  world — special  revela- 
tion in  any  form  or  degree.  God  has  left  them, 
it  is  thought,  to  their  own  unaided  faculties,  in  the 
use  of  the  light  of  nature,  in  seeking  after  Him. 
No  supernatural  assistance  has  been  vouchsafed. 
On  the  other  hand,  as  already  seen,  are  those — the 
majority  in  our  own  day — who  break  down  the 
distinction  of  natural  and  supernatural  altogether. 
This  class  will  admit  no  distinction  in  origin  between 
Gentile  religions  and  Israel's.  They  see  revelation 
as  truly  in  the  one  as  in  the  other.  As  this  commonly 
is  found  to  mean  that  there  is  no  true  supernatural 
revelation  in  either  case,  the  two  views  come,  at 
bottom,  as  regards  heathenism,  much  to  the  same 
thing. 

1.  In  dealing  with  this  question,  a  first  thing  to  be 
pointed  out  is  that,  whatever  place  is  allowed  to 
special  revelation  in  heathenism,  it  cannot  affect 
the  broad  fact,  historically  attested,  that  heathen 
religions  were  without  the  light  of  a  clear,  authoritative, 
supernatural  revelation,  such  as  Israel,  alone  of  all 
nations,  possessed.  It  is  the  contrast  so  clearly 
discernible  between  the  religion  of  Israel  and  other 
religions  in  this  respect  which  compels  the  impartial 
investigator  to  assign  to  the  former  a  special  origin. 
This  also  is  the  broad  teaching  of  the  Scripture  on 
God's  dealing  with  the  nations.  The  nations  are 
described  as  '  suffered  '  for  the  time  '  to  walk  in  their 
own  ways.' 1     They  are  described  as  in  ignorance  of 

1  Acts  xiv.  16. 


in.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  57 

the  true  God  and  of  the  way  of  life.1  '  The  times  of 
this  ignorance,'  Paul  says,  '  God  overlooked  ;  but 
now  He  cominandeth  men  that  they  should  all 
everywhere  repent.'  2  With  this  corresponds  the 
peculiar  consciousness  which  Israel  at  all  times  had 
of  its  exceptional  position  as  a  people  standing  in 
special  relation  to  God.  *  For  what  great  nation  is 
there,  that  hath  a  god  so  nigh  unto  them,  as  the 
Lord  our  God  is  whensoever  we  call  upon  him  ?  .  .  . 
For  ask  now  of  the  days  that  are  past,  which  were 
before  thee,  since  the  day  that  God  created  man 
upon  the  earth,  and  from  the  one  end  of  heaven 
unto  the  other,  whether  there  hath  been  any  such 
thing  as  this  great  thing  is,  or  hath  been  heard  like 
it  ?  '  3  If  Israel  was  a  vine  trained  and  planted  by 
the  hand  of  God,4  heathenism  can  be  regarded  at 
best  as  a  vine  growing  wild. 

2.  While  this  is  so,  it  is  next  to  be  remarked  that 
a  special  revelation  in  Israel  is  not  incompatible 
with  the  view  that  in  many  special  ways  God  was 
present  also  in  heathenism,  imparting  to  heathen 
peoples  measures  of  His  light  and  grace.  The  nations 
of  men  were  never,  at  any  period  of  their  history, 
left  wholly  without  revelation.  Apart  from  what 
may  be  said  of  a  '  primitive  revelation '  the  light 
of  which  was  never  wholly  lost,5  this  is  evidenced 
in  many  ways.  Paul,  in  the  discourse  at  Athens 
above  quoted,  defines  the  end  of  God's  dealings  with 
the  nations  :  '  That  they  should  seek  God,  if  haply 
they  might  feel  after  Him  and  find  Him,'  but  does 
not  fail  to  add :    '  Though  He  is  not  far  from  each 

i  Acts  xvii.  23 ;  Eph.  ii.  12 ;  iv.  18. 

*  Acts  xvii.  30.  *  Deut.  iv.  7,  32-35. 

*  Ps.  lxxx.  8-10 ;  Is.  v.  1-7.  6  See  below,  p.  64. 


58  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

one  of  us.'  1  Elsewhere  he  says  :  '  Yet  He  left  not 
Himself  without  witness '  ;  2  and  though  the 
reference  is  mainly  to  the  natural  revelation  of 
God's  goodness  (giving  them  rains  and  fruitful 
seasons),  it  need  not  be  supposed  that  the  revelation 
was  confined  to  this.  The  Scripture  gives  numerous 
indications  to  the  contrary.  In  Abraham's  time  is 
found  Melchizedek,  a  '  priest  of  God  Most  High  ' — 
a  man  evidently  of  high  and  enlightened  ideas — at 
Salem.3  In  Moses'  time  is  the  strange  figure  of 
Balaam,  a  prophet  of  Jehovah,  outside  Israel,  at 
Pethor,  by  the  Euphrates.4  Numerous  instances 
occur  of  revelations  and  warnings  to  heathen  kings 
in  dreams  (Abimelech,  Pharaoh,  Nebuchadnezzar, 
etc.),5  and  by  prophets  (Jonah :  the  prophetic 
oracles  to  the  nations).  Job  and  his  friends  in  the 
land  of  Uz  are  represented  as  not  without  the  light 
of  revelation.6  Cyrus  is  announced  as  raised  up 
and  girded  by  God  for  the  work  he  had  to  do.7  If, 
as  Peter  affirmed,  '  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth 
[God],  and  worketh  righteousness,  is  acceptable  to 
Him,'  s  is  it  to  be  believed  that  God  does  not  draw 
near  to  such  seekers  with  His  light,  His  succours, 
His  answers  to  prayer  ?  Or  may  we  not  look  to 
heathenism  itself  ?  It  is  a  Christian  doctrine  that 
the  sages  and  teachers  of  heathen  peoples  received 
from  God's  special  illumination  whatever  measure 
of  the  light  of  truth  they  professed.  The  light  of 
the  Logos,  '  which  lighteth  every  man,'  9  as  the 
early   Fathers   taught,10   shone   in   them.      '  If   we 

i  Acts  xvii.  27.  2  Acts  xiv.  17.  3  Gen.  xiv.  18-20. 

4  Num.  xxii.  5  ff.  6  Gen.  xx.  3,  6  ;  xli.  ;  Dan.  ii.,  etc. 

8  Job  iv.  12  ff.  ;  xxxviii.  ff.  ;  xlii.  *  is.  xiv.  1  ff. 

8  Acts  x.  35.  9  John  i.  9. 

10  The  doctrine  of  the  '  spermatic '  Logos — the  Logos  as  implanting 


in.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  59 

reflect, '  writes  John  Calvin,  '  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
is  the  only  fountain  of  truth,  we  will  be  careful, 
as  we  would  avoid  offering  insult  to  Him,  not  to 
reject  or  contemn  truth  wherever  it  appears.  In 
despising  the  gifts,  we  insult  the  Giver.  How,  then, 
can  we  deny  that  truth  must  have  beamed  in  those 
ancient  law-givers  who  arranged  civil  order  and 
discipline  with  so  much  equity  ?  .  .  .  Nay,  we 
cannot  read  the  writings  of  the  ancients  on  these 
subjects  without  the  highest  admiration  :  an  admira- 
tion which  their  excellence  will  not  allow  us  to 
withhold.  But  shall  we  deem  anything  to  be  noble 
and  praiseworthy,  without  tracing  it  to  the  hand  of 
God  ? ' x  In  brief,  at  no  time  has  God  withdrawn 
His  interest,  care,  providential  guidance,  help, 
revelation,  from  any  heathen  people. 

3.  Without  professing  to  penetrate  into  what 
must  always  remain  more  or  less  a  mystery — the 
ways  of  God  in  His  dealings  with  heathen  peoples — 
it  is  perhaps  possible  to  see  in  general  wherein  the 
broad  contrast  existed,  in  respect  of  revelation, 
between  them  and  the  people  of  Israel.  It  is  not 
simply  that  revelation  in  Israel  had  a  fulness, 
clearness,  and  certainty,  a  strong  and  authoritative 
note,  which  it  lacked  in  heathenism  ;  though  that 
also  is  true.  The  deeper  cause  lay  in  the  content  of 
the  revelation,  and  in  its  connection  with  a  developing 
redemptive  purpose,  working  onwards,  in  continuous 
historical  process,  to  a  definite  goal.  Revelation  in 
heathenism,  so  far  as  that  is  to  be  recognised,  was 
of  a  more  partial,  sporadic,  individual  character  ; 

the  seeds  of  truth  in  heathen  minds— is  prominent  in  Justin  Martyr 
(1  Apol.  46  ;  2  Apol.  8-13),  Clement,  Origen,  etc. 
1  Institutes,  bk.  u.  ch.  ii.  15,  16 ;  cf.  bk.  in.  ch.  xiv.  2,  etc. 


60  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [oh. 

it  lacked  the  creative,  continuous,  progressive 
character  which  it  had  in  the  chosen  race.  There  is 
a  great  difference,  manifestly,  between  revelations 
which  are  purely  personal  and  private,  and  revela- 
tions, like  those  to  Abraham  and  Moses,  which 
enter  into  a  history  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and 
form  part  of  a  series,  extending  through  ages,  and 
conducting  to  an  end  of  world-wide  significance. 
In  no  case  do  we  find  revelation  outside  Israel 
assuming  the  marked,  unmistakable,  historical,  and 
visibly  supernatural  form  it  took  in  that  nation. 
In  character  it  consisted  more  in  illumination — an 
illumination  on  the  basis  of  the  natural  revelation, 
making  that  clearer,  deepening  receptivity  for  it, 
interpreting  its  lessons  through  experience.  In 
Israel  revelation  had  a  character  of  universality ; 
an  aspect  to  the  world  ;  it  brought  in  truths,  and 
founded  relations,  which  held  in  them  the  promise 
of  a  future.  It  is  mainly  this  positive  historical 
character  which  distinguishes  it  from  revelation  to 
the  nations  outside.1 


IV.  Limitation  of  Historical  Eevelation. 

If  the  question  be  still  pressed,  Why  should  revela- 
tion have  taken  this  form  of  limitation  it  did  ? — 
why  should  other  peoples  not  have   been  favoured 

1  Dorner  remarks  :  '  Divine  activity,  if  it  is  to  be  called  revelation, 
must  impart  something  analogous  to  the  product  of  creation,  some- 
thing new,  not  previously  existent  in  the  spirit.  .  .  .  Revelation 
denotes  not  merely  the  introduction  of  something  new  to  the  in- 
dividual, but  its  introduction  by  God's  action  to  the  race  as  a  whole 
for  the  first  time.  .  .  .  Mere  capacity  for  religion  is  an  insignificant 
matter  in  comparison  with  that  which  will  be  the  issue  of  historical 
facts,  or  God's  acts  of  institution '  {Op.  tit.  ii.  pp.  134-9). 


in.]  EEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  61 

with  as  full  and  gracious  a  revelation  as  Israel  had  ? — 
it  is  to  be  admitted  that  the  answer  is  one  which  lies 
largely  beyond  us  m  the  depths  of  God's  own 
unsearchable  wisdom  and  counsel.1  Any  partial 
answer  that  can  be  given  must  be  sought  for  in  the 
ends  which  God  had  in  view  alike  in  His  giving  and 
His  withholding.2  Here  such  considerations  as  the 
following  occur  : — 

1.  It  is  necessary  to  remember,  as  one  element 
in  the  case,  the  responsibility  of  the  nations  in  parting 
with  the  light  they  originally  had.  From  the 
Biblical  point  of  view,  however  it  may  be  in  the  view 
of  evolutionary  science,  the  nations  were  not  guilt- 
less in  this  respect.  '  That  which  may  be  known 
of  God  is  manifest  in  them  ;  for  God  manifested 
it  unto  them  .  .  .  that  they  may  be  without  excuse ; 
because  that,  knowing  God,  they  glorified  Him  not 
as  God,  neither  gave  thanks,  but  became  vain  in 
their  reasonings,  and  their  senseless  heart  was 
darkened.' 3  A  responsibility,  therefore,  rested  on 
mankind  for  the  state  of  ignorance,  error,  and 
moral  corruption  into  which  it  had  come.  It  follows 
that  special  revelation,  in  every  instance  in  which 
it  was  granted,  was  an  act  of  grace.  In  historical 
revelation  the  calling  of  Abraham,  the  early  promises, 
the  raising  up  of  Moses,  the  covenant  with  Israel,  the 
sending  of  prophets,  were  due  wholly  to  grace. 

2.  It  is  further  to  be  considered,  assuming  the 
need  of  historical  revelation,  that  it  was  only  by 
the  choice  of  a  'particular  individual,  afterwards  of 

1  Cf.  Rom.  xi.  33. 

2  Butler's  Analogy,  pt.  n.  ch.  vi.,  on  'The  Want  of  Universality  in 
Revelation,'  may  be  compared. 

8  Rom.  i.  19,  21.     Cf.  Dorner,  Op.  cit.  ii.  pp.  245-8. 


62  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

a  nation,  that  God  could  work  out  His  gracious 
purpose  for  the  blessing  of  mankind.  Historical 
revelation  had  to  begin  somewhere,  in  the  choice  of 
a  special  person,  the  preparing  of  a  special  people, 
the  providing  for  '  an  election  of  grace  '  within  this 
people,  in  order  that  the  world  might  ultimately  be 
universally  enlightened  and  benefited.  Israel  was 
to  be  God's  messenger  to  the  world — a  '  light  of  the 
Gentiles.'  *  A  definite  line  of  historical  develop- 
ment had  to  be  adopted  if  the  desired  end  was 
to  be  reached.  This  is  the  law  of  election  in  the 
divine  economy.  Election  is  not  arbitrary.  It  is 
not  an  act  of  personal  favouritism,  but  always,  as  in 
the  case  of  Abraham,  a  means  to  a  larger  blessing.2 

3.  The  subject  is  looked  at  yet  more  compre- 
hensively when  it  is  recalled  that  the  heathen 
peoples  had  their  own  mission,  and  that  their  mission 
was  not  that  of  the  people  of  Israel.  It  is  not  to 
deny  a  divine  providence  in  heathenism  to  say  that 
the  charismata  bestowed  on  heathen  peoples  were 
other  than  religious.  In  heathenism  it  is  the 
secular  consciousness  that  predominates.  To  it  is 
given  the  development  of  civilisation, — of  arts,  laws, 
letters,  philosophy,  states, — of  productivity  on  the 
worldly  side.  In  Israel  the  religious  vocation  is  the 
central  one.  The  sages  even  of  heathenism  grasped 
truth  from  the  civil,  political,  philosophical  sides, 
rather  than  from  the  religious.  A  prophet  of 
Israel,  therefore,  would  not  have  found  receptivity 
among  the  heathen,  even  had  he  risen  among  them. 
The  soil  was  not  there  on  which  the  seed  of  divine 
truth  could  be  sown,  or  from  which  it  might  be  pro- 
pagated.    To  secure  this  a  people  had  to  be  prepared 

1  Is.  xlii.  6;  lx.  1-3.  2  Gen.  xii.  1-3. 


in.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  63 

There  had  to  be  concentration  to  gain  the  ttov  <tto) 
necessary  to  act  upon  the  world.  A  community  of 
grace  had  to  be  built  up  from  the  very  commence- 
ment. Hence,  again,  the  significance  of  such  a 
fact  as  the  Call  of  Abraham  ;  the  meaning  of  the 
hedging  round  and  training  of  the  people  of  Israel, 
till  sufficient  force  was  accumulated  for  larger, 
wider  action. 

4.  Lastly,  may  it  not  truthfully  be  said  that  it  was 
as  essential  to  the  divine  purpose  that  heathenism 
should  be  left  for  the  time  freely  to  develop  itself,  as 
that  Israel  should  be  placed  under  special  divine  train- 
ing for  the  purposes  of  its  mission  ?  It  was  not  left, 
certainly,  to  develop  unguided  or  unrestrained. 
But  it  was  left  to  develop  freely,  even  in  respect  of 
the  God-denying  tendency  it  had  taken  into  its 
heart,  that  this  might  be  revealed,  and  its  real 
character  become  manifest.  Civilisation,  arts,  philo- 
sophy, science,  were  permitted  to  do  their  utmost, 
not  only  for  the  sake  of  their  positive  gains  to 
humanity,  but  that  the  moral  helplessness  of  a 
world  without  God  might  be  set  in  its  strongest 
light.  This  is  no  arbitrary  procedure  on  the  part 
of  God.  It  rests  on  the  eternal  law  that  under  the 
government  of  God  everything  that  is,  even  evil, 
must  be  permitted  to  manifest  its  full  nature.  '  For 
nothing,'  Jesus  said,  '  is  hid,  that  shall  not  be  made 
manifest ;  nor  anything  secret,  that  shall  not  be 
known  and  come  to  light.' l  Only  as  evil,  once  it 
has  entered,  is  permitted  to  reveal  its  whole  nature, 
can  it  be  effectually  overcome.  How  otherwise 
can  God's  patience,  in  permitting  evil  to  rise  to  the 
heights  it  often  does,  be  explained  ? 

1  Luke  viii.  17. 


64  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

V.  Question  of  a  Primitive  Revelation. 

A  question  germane  to  the  present  discussion 
may  here  receive  a  little  further  attention,  viz.,  the 
value  to  be  attached  to  the  idea  of  a  '  primitive 
revelation.'  Such  an  idea  seems  to  many  investi- 
gators of  the  philosophy  of  religion  no  longer  worthy 
of  consideration.  Dr.  G.  T.  Ladd,  e.g.,  in  his  recent 
large  and  able  work  on  The  Philosophy  of  Religion, 
directs  much  reasoning  against  the  notions  of  '  a 
primitive  revelation '  and  '  a  primitive  monotheism.' x 
As  opposed  to  these  notions,  the  words  of  Zeller 
are  endorsed  as  '  undoubtedly  correct '  :  '  What 
humanity  possesses  of  religious  truth  and  religious 
life  it  must  win  for  itself.  .  .  .  Religion,  like  any 
human  work,  could  only  climb  upward  gradually, 
out  of  crude  and  imperfect  beginnings,  to  a  nobler 
and  more  pure  form.5  2  Is  not  such  a  dictum, 
however,  itself  as  a  priori  as  anything  on  the  other 
side  can  be  ?  Is  it  not,  besides,  in  contradiction 
with  facts,  which  show,  in  many  cases,  *  undoubt- 
edly '  a  descent  in  religion  from  relatively  simpler 
and  purer  to  grosser  and  growingly  polytheistic 
forms  ? 

1.  On  the  question  of  a  '  primitive  revelation ' 
it  is  permissible  to  think  that  there  is  a  certain 
confusion  of  idea.  No  one  seriously  contends, 
as  Dr.  Ladd  and  others  apparently  suppose,  that 
religion  '  originated ' 3  in  a  primitive  divine  revela- 
tion. Such  an  idea  is  on  the  face  of  it  untenable. 
But  it  is  not  untenable  to  suppose  that  man  had, 
from  the  first,  together  with  his  inherent  religious 
endowment,  a  measure  of  divine  revelation  granted 

i  Op.  cit.  pp.  152,  204,  223,  etc.  »  P.  151.  *  P.  152. 


in.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  65 

to  him  sufficient  at  least  to  ground,  in  an  elementary- 
way,  a  pure  worship  of  God,  and  keep  him  right 
in  his  relations  with  God.  The  fact  of  such  revela- 
tion may  be,  as  Dr.  Ladd  says,  beyond  the  condi- 
tions of  '  historical,'  i.e.,  extra-Scriptural  proof,  but 
there  is  no  warrant  in  history  or  anything  else  for 
denying  either  its  possibility  or  its  probability.1  If 
revelation  is  conceded  at  all,  it  is  difficult  to  see  why 
it  should  not  begin  early  as  well  as  late.  It  is  not, 
surely,  to  serious  reflection,  a  higher  idea  of  God  to 
suppose  that  He  should  have  left  man  to  grow  up 
from  a  semi- brutish,  or  at  least  rude  and  barbarian 
state,  deeply  entangled  in  sin,  error,  and  idolatry, 
before  giving  him  some  clear  knowledge  of  Himself, 
and  of  the  way  of  worshipping  Him,  than  to  suppose 
that  He  should  have  put  Himself,  as  the  Bible  says 
He  did,  into  moral  relations  with  His  creature  at 
the  first,  giving  him  some  assured  light  for  his 
guidance. 

2.  As  respects  '  primitive  monotheism,'  this  also 
is  an  ambiguous  phrase,  for  it  is  not  supposed  by 
any  that  man  set  out  with  an  abstract  conception 
of  the  unity  of  God  in  formal  opposition  to  the  idea 
of  false  gods  or  of  many  gods.     Enough  for  the  soul 

1  Dr.  Ladd  is  well  aware  of  the  nests  of  fallacies  which  lurk  in 
current  speculations  about  'primitive  man,'  and  some  of  the  most 
valuable  portions  of  his  work  are  those  which  deal  with  this  subject. 
'Strictly  speaking,' he  says,  'little  or  nothing  is  known  of  primitive 
man'  (p.  14).  'One  must  not  be  imposed  on  by  an  offhand  trans- 
ference of  the  characteristics  of  savages  or  \mcivilised  tribes  as  now 
existing  to  the  case  of  primitive  man.  To  quote  from  the  highest 
authority  in  anthropology  (Waitz),  the  "primitive  man"  is  a  pure 
fiction,  however  convenient  a  fiction  he  may  be'  (p.  135).  He 
trenchantly  criticises  the  tendency  to  set  up  fetishism,  totemism, 
ancestor-worship,  or  the  like,  as  the  'primitive  form'  of  religion 
(pp.  96-9,  106,  142  ft.,  148,  170,  etc.). 

E 


66  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

to  realise  that  it  was  in  the  presence  of  its  Maker,  and 
of  the  Lord  of  All.  On  philosophical  and  historical 
grounds  it  is  quite  as  reasonable  to  believe  that  at 
the  root  of  the  religious  consciousness  there  lay  a  yet 
undifferentiated  sense  of  the  divine — a  sense  after- 
wards refracted  or  broken  up  into  the  polytheism 
we  know  of — as  that  monotheism  was  a  late  develop- 
ment from  a  low-grade  fetishism  or  spirit- worship, 
or  the  imaginative  spiritualising  of  natural  objects. 

The  interest  of  this  question  in  the  present  connec- 
tion is  that,  in  the  Biblical  conception,  in  marked 
contrast  with  '  modern '  tendencies,  there  is  no  period 
in  the  history  of  the  world  when  man  was  without 
some  degree  of  special  revelation.  God  is  assumed 
to  have  had  dealings  with  man — to  have  spoken 
with  man — in  the  very  dawn  of  his  history  ;  and 
the  piety  of  the  godly  in  the  primitive  age,  as  in  the 
ages  that  came  after,  had  revelation  as  its  basis. 
The  piety,  indeed,  is  of  the  simplest  and  most 
unrestrained  kind,  hardly  going  beyond  the  bounds 
of  natural  revelation.  But  it  is  non-idolatrous,  non- 
mythological,  spiritual,  and  is  represented,  in  its 
clearness,  certainty,  and  assurance  of  acceptance,  as 
the  product  of  '  faith.' *  One  is  impressed  here  with 
the  reserve  of  the  Biblical  notices,  so  unlike  what  one 
finds  in  heathenism,  but  not  less  with  the  fact  of 
revelation  they  imply.  '  Then  began  men  to  call 
on  the  name  of  the  Lord.'  2  '  Enoch  walked  with 
God.'  3  This  primitive  piety  holds  in  it  already 
the  germ  of  '  promise '  4  of  which  the  long  history 
of  subsequent  revelation  is  the  unfolding. 

i  Cf.  Heb.  xi.  4  ff.  2  Gen.  iv.  26. 

3  Gen.  v.  24.  4  Gen.  iii.  15. 


iv.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  67 


CHAPTER  IV 

REVELATION    AND    HISTORY — FORMS    OF 
SPECIAL    REVELATION 

It  was  before  mentioned  as  one  of  the  chief  gains 
in  the  modern  treatment  of  revelation  that  atten- 
tion is  increasingly  concentrated  on  revelation  as 
something  distinctively  historical.  In  all  cases, 
indeed,  the  divine  act  is  connected  with  the  divine 
word,  without  which  its  meaning  would  not  be 
intelligible.  With  the  external  or  objective  element 
in  revelation  there  is  everywhere  connected  an 
internal.  But  the  historical  element  in  the  Biblical 
revelation  is  still  that  which  gives  it  its  distinctive 
character.  Without  this  it  would  be,  in  great  part, 
in  the  air.  In  proportion  as  confidence  in  the 
history  is  shaken,  the  foundation  of  the  whole 
structure  of  revelation  is  weakened. 


I.  Historical  Eevelation  in  the  Old 
Testament. 

A  question  of  much  importance  for  the  doctrine 
of  revelation  thus  arises  as  to  the  value  of  the 
historical  element  in  the  Biblical  religion.  The  facts 
of  revelation  in  the  New  Testament  will  be  dealt 
with  later ;  at  present  attention  may  be  directed  to 
the  history  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  to  the  degree 


68  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIKATION  [ch. 

in  which  that  is  affected  by  recent  critical  discus- 
sion.1 

1.  The  Old  Testament  assumes  the  reality  of  a 
historical  revelation  of  God  from  man's  creation 
till  the  close  of  the  prophetic  age.  It  is,  on  its  own 
showing,  the  record  of  this  revelation.  A  continuous 
thread  of  history  unites  its  end  with  its  beginning, 
One  thing  manifest  in  the  survey  of  this  history  is 
that,  while  the  parts  are  organically  related,  yet  the 
history  does  not  flow  on  evenly  or  uniformly,  but 
falls  into  periods  of  epoch-making  importance — 
creative  periods,  as  they  may  be  named, — and  periods 
which,  relatively  to  the  former,  are  not  creative,  but 
what  may  be  called  continuative ;  2 — periods  when 
the  forces  of  revelation  are  acting,  as  it  were,  at  their 
maximum  (e.g.,  the  Call  of  Abraham,  the  Exodus  and 
Law-giving),  and  periods  in  which  the  spirit  of 
revelation  is  still,  indeed,  active,  but  chiefly  on  the 
basis  of  what  has  been  already  revealed,  and  as 
preparatory  to  a  new  advance.  A  few  words  must 
suffice  to  indicate  the  chief  stages. 

The  earliest  period  in  the  history  of  God's 
dealing  with  man — the  primitive  and  antediluvian — 
has  already  been  referred  to.  It  covers  what  is  told 
of  Paradise,  the  Fall,  the  lines  of  Seth  and  Cain, 
the  Flood.  In  it,  in  a  sense,  is  laid  the  foundation 
of  all  else  in  the  Bible. 

The  period  next  succeeding  is  that  from  Noah, 
with  whom  is  connected  a  definite  epoch  through 

1  The  author  can,  naturally,  only  speak  as  he  believes,  and  the  lines 
he  follows  are  those  already  laid  down  in  his  special  work  on  the 
subject  {Problem  of  the  0.  T.).  Criticism,  in  his  view,  has  become 
side-tracked,  and  is  bound,  ere  long,  to  retrace  many  of  its  steps. 

2  Dorner  aptly  compares  the  original  and  continuative  forms  of 
revelation  to  the  relation  of  creation  and  conservation. 


iv.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  69 

the  covenant  made  with  him,1  to  Abraliam.  In  this 
period  mankind  again  multiplies,  and  is  distributed 
in  its  families  and  nations  throughout  the  earth.2 
This,  according  to  the  Bible,  takes  place  in  connection 
with  the  judgment  at  Babel.3  The  divine  providence 
fixes  the  bounds  of  the  nations.4  The  period  is 
marked  by  the  growing  obscuration  of  the  conscious- 
ness of  God — that  confusion  of  God  and  the  world 
which  is  the  root  error  of  heathenism,5  and  the  loss 
of  the  sense  of  the  unity  of  God  in  polytheism.6 
Hence  the  need  of  a  new  beginning  in  special  revela- 
tion, in  the  call  of,  and  covenant  with,  Abraham. 

The  history  now  moves  on  through  the  covenants, 
promises,  and  providential  dealings  of  God  with  the 
chosen  family  in  the  'patriarchal  age.  Then  follows, 
in  fulfilment  of  these  promises,  the  Mosaic  age, 
with  the  Exodus,  the  Sinaitic  Covenant  and  Law- 
giving, the  wilderness  discipline,  till  the  settlement 
in  Canaan.  After  an  interval  of  disorganisation 
under  the  Judges,  a  new  period  begins  with  the 
monarchy,  and  the  fresh  nucleus  of  promises  con- 
nected with  the  house  of  David.7  The  unhappy 
division  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  separate  histories 
and  backslidings  of  Israel  and  Judah,  lead  up  to  the 
age  of  'prophecy — though  in  the  wider  sense  there 

1  Gen.  ix. 

2  Gen.  x.  The  value  of  the  Table  of  Nations  in  Gen.  x.  has  been 
greatly  enhanced  by  recent  discovery.  Professor  Kautzsch  says: 
'The  so-called  table  of  nations  remains,  according  to  all  results  of 
monumental  exploration,  an  ethnographic,  original  monument  of  the 
first  rank,  which  nothing  can  replace '  {Die  Bleibtnde  Bedeutung  des 
A.  T.,  p.  17). 

8  On  this,  see  Schelling's  suggestive  remarks,  quoted  by  Auberlen, 
Div.  Rev.,  pp.  160-2. 
4  Deut.  xxxii.  8  ;  Acts,  xvii.  26.  6  Cf.  Dorner,  as  above. 

6  Josh.  xxiv.  2.  7  2  Sam.  vii. 


70  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [cm 

were  prophets  from  the  beginning.1  A  great  crisis 
in  this  period  is  connected  with  the  notable  figures 
of  Elijah  and  Elisha,  when  the  choice  in  the  Northern 
kingdom  had  come  to  be  between  Jehovah  and 
Baal.  The  very  disappointments  and  chastisements 
of  the  prophetic  age2 — the  fall  of  the  Northern 
kingdom,  Assyrian  and  Chaldean  invasions,  etc. — 
had  priceless  results  in  aiding  the  disengaging  of 
the  idea  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  from  its  existing 
political  form,  in  distinguishing  the  true  kernel  of 
Israel  ('  the  remnant ')  from  Israel  after  the  flesh, 
in  evoking  visions,  promises,  and  hopes  of  a  better 
economy,  and  in  giving  further  and  more  definite 
shape  to  the  idea  of  the  Messiah.  The  Exile  ended 
the  kingdom  of  Judah,  and  prepared  the  way,  after 
the  return,  for  the  new  theocracy,  when,  purged 
from  idolatry,  the  nation,  in  renewed  covenant 
with  God,  applied  itself  with  settled  aim  to  the 
keeping  of  the  law  of  Moses.  In  one  sense  this  was 
a  backward  step,  for  life  dominated  by  the  law  fell 
far  short  of  the  glowing  spiritual  ideals  of  the 
prophets,  and  tended  to  the  legalism  into  which  the 
nation  afterwards  sank  ;  but  it  was  for  that  time 
the  only  form  of  organisation  suited  to  the  people, 
and  might  have  yielded  better  fruit  than  it  did, 
had  the  spirit  of  the  people  been  more  upright,  and 

1  Gen.  xx.  7  ;  Num.  xi.  27 ;  Deut.  xxxiv.  10 ;  Hos.  xii.  13  ;  Acts  iii. 
18,  21,  etc. 

2  W.  K.  Smith  has  said :  '  The  work  of  the  prophets  of  the  Assyrian 
and  Babylonian  periods  falls  in  the  most  critical  stage  of  the  history 
of  the  religion  of  Israel — when,  humanly  speaking,  it  seemed  far 
from  improbable  that  that  religion  would  sink  to  the  level  of  common 
Semitic  heathenism,  and  perish  like  the  religions  of  the  Semitic 
peoples,  with  the  political  fall  of  the  nation  that  professed  it '  {The 
Prophets,  p.  18). 


iv.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  71 

the  lessons  of  the  prophets,  whose  memories  were  at 
length  honoured,  been  more  laid  to  heart. 

2.  Such,  in  bare  outline,  is  the  picture  which  the 
Bible  presents  of  the  course  of  the  history  of  reve- 
lation in  Israel.  This  picture,  it  is  well  known, 
undergoes  entire  transformation  at  the  hands  of 
modern  critical  scholarship.  The  real  course  of 
events,  it  is  held  by  many  modern  scholars,  is 
nearly  the  precise  reverse  of  that  just  described. 
The  law,  in  the  new  scheme,  comes  in  at  the  end, 
instead  of  at  the  beginning  of  Israel's  history,  and 
the  history  itself  is  recast  from  its  first  page  to  its 
last.  The  actual  process  in  the  history  of  the 
religion,  it  is  declared,  was  one  of  gradual  de- 
velopment from  small  and  poor  beginnings ;  the 
patriarchs  are  legendary  or  ideal  figures,  representing 
perhaps  early  tribal  movements  ;  Moses,  if  such  a 
person  ever  existed,  is  largely  a  legendary  creation  ; 
the  history  of  the  Exodus  in  any  case  is  mostly 
legendary.  So  with  the  Conquest,  and  in  no  small 
measure  with  the  history  of  the  Judges  and  of  the 
earlier  kings. 

It  need  not  occasion  surprise  if  this  '  critical ' 
view  of  Israel's  history  is  felt  by  many,  by  no  means 
narrowjminded,  to  be  well-nigh  fatal  to  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  Old  Testament  to  be  a  record  of  a 
real  divine  revelation.  It  must  at  least  be  owned 
that,  if  a  supernatural  revelation  has  been  given, 
the  real  history  of  it,  on  this  reading  of  the  facts, 
has  been  displaced  by  another  mainly  legendary 
and  fictitious.  It  is  not  on  such  a  basis  that  the 
present  writer  can  undertake  to  defend  the  reality 
of  revelation  and  inspiration  in  the  Old  Testament. 
Nor,  convinced  as  he  is  that,  despite   its  present 


72  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

vogue  among  scholars,  the  evolutionary,  critical 
theory  of  the  religion  of  Israel  is  not  the  true  one, 
and  that  in  criticism  itself,  in  archaeology,  in  a  better 
knowledge  of  the  ancient  world,  in  a  deeper  under- 
standing of  the  ideas  of  the  religion  of  Israel,  forces 
are  surely  working  to  make  this  evident,  does  he 
feel  that  he  is  called  to  undertake  such  a  task. 
The  reasons  for  his  non-acceptance  of  the  current 
critical  scheme  he  has  given  elsewhere,  and  need 
not  here  repeat.  But  a  few  results,  in  their  bearing 
on  the  subject  in  hand,  may  be  indicated. 

The  documentary  analysis  of  the  Pentateuch,  and 
other  results  of  purely  literary  criticism  (doubtful 
as  many  of  these  are  held  to  be),  may  be  left  un- 
touched. They  are  secondary  in  importance  to  the 
leading  question  of  the  reliableness  of  the  historical 
content.  The  general  trustworthiness  of  the 
history,  as  has  already  been  indicated,  is,  apart  from 
other  reasons,  believed  to  be  internally  guaranteed 
by  the  depth  and  organic  character — the  forward 
movement  under  the  direction  of  a  divine  purpose — 
of  the  ideas  embodied  in  it.  Here,  on  the  surface 
of  the  record,  is  something  which  it  lies  beyond  the 
capacity  of  irresponsible  editors  or  collectors  of 
legends,  or  even  of  late  prophetically-minded  men, 
to  invent,  or  introduce  into  the  substance  of  a 
national  folk-lore.  The  religion  which  unfolds  itself 
in  the  history  of  the  Old  Testament  is  one  religion, 
moving  on  with  stately,  serious  step — grave,  mono- 
theistic, progressive.  It  is  unfolded  with  a  divine 
coherence,  and  ever-increasing  breadth  of  scope, 
depth  of  meaning,  and  prophetic  insight  into  the 
future.     It  has,  as  Dorner  says  of  it,1  teleology  as 

i  Op.  cit.  i.  p.  274. 


iv.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  73 

its  soul.  God  is  in  it,  in  the  displays  of  His  holiness, 
majesty,  faithfulness,  and  grace.  The  purpose  it 
embodies  does  not  halt  till  it  rests  in  Christ. 

For  any  one  taking  this  view  of  the  Old  Testament 
history,  it  will  be  found  difficult  to  believe  that  the 
patriarchs  are  the  wholly  mythical  or  legendary 
figures  many  would  make  them  out  to  be,  or  that  the 
covenants  and  promises  of  that  early  age  are  unreal. 
It  will  be  found  difficult  to  believe  that  Moses  was 
not  divinely  raised  up  and  commissioned,  and  did 
not,  by  divine  command,  lead  the  enslaved  Israelites 
out  of  Egypt,  and  across  the  Red  Sea,  to  form  at 
Sinai  a  religious  covenant  between  them  and 
Jehovah,  which  pledged  them  ever  after  to  be  His 
people.  It  will  be  found  difficult  to  believe  that 
Moses  did  not  then  and  after  give  to  the  people 
laws  and  ordinances — both  civil  and  priestly — in 
substance  identical  with  those  in  the  books  which 
record  his  legislation.  It  will  be  found  difficult 
to  believe  that  Deuteronomy  is  not,  as  it  claims  to 
be,1  a  reproduction  of  actual  discourses  which  the 
law-giver,  before  his  death,  delivered  in  the  plains 
of  Moab,  on  the  borders  of  the  land  of  promise.  It 
will  be  found  difficult  to  believe  that  the  Conquest 
was  not  effected  by  Joshua  and  the  tribes  in  the 
general  manner  depicted  in  the  Book  of  Joshua.  And 
so  with  the  remainder  of  the  history. 

All  this  can  be  maintained,  without  insisting 
on  any  overstrained  theory  of  '  inerrancy '  in  his- 
torical detail,  and  while  freely  granting  that  much 
in  the  literary  form  and  dramatic  presentation  of 
the  narrative  belongs  to  the  telling  of  the  story — ■ 
the  shape  it  had  acquired  in  tradition,  and  is,  there- 

i  Deut.  xxxi.  9.  24. 


74  EEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

fore,  not  to  be  unduly  pressed.  It  is  possible  to 
concede  this,  and  yet  to  be  persuaded  that  the 
history,  even  in  its  early  parts,  rests,  as  becomes  a 
history  of  revelation,  on  well-preserved  tradition 
and  sound  historical  knowledge,  to  which  from  a 
very  early  period — earlier,  probably,  than  most 
are  accustomed  to  think — documentary  material 
contributed  ; — further,  that  this  was  not  a  work  of 
man's  mind  merely,  but  one  in  which  the  Spirit  of 
God  was  actively  present,  to  the  very  end  that  such 
a  faithful  record  of  revelation  might  be  provided. 
In  support  of  such  a  view  appeal  may  be  made  again 
to  the  internal  character  of  the  history  ;  but  also, 
now  more  than  ever,  to  the  confirmations  and  cor- 
roborations of  some  of  the  oldest  and  most  contested 
statements  in  the  sacred  record.  Such  old  docu- 
ments, e.g.,  as  the  Table  of  Nations  in  Gen.  x., 
referred  to  above,  and  the  account  of  Chedorlaomer's 
expedition  in  Gen.  xiv.,  shine,  in  the  light  of  modern 
exploration,  in  a  new  lustre  of  historical  trust- 
worthiness.1 


II.  Highest  Types  of  Revelation — Moses 

and  Christ. 

The  way  is  now  open  for  considering  more  particu- 
larly the  nature  and  forms  •  of  special  revelation ; 
but,  before  entering  on  details,  it  may  serve  a  useful 
purpose  to  glance  briefly  at  the  highest  and  most 
perfect  forms  in  which  revelation  is  presented  in  the 
Bible — those,  viz.,  in  Moses  and  in  Christ.    It  cannot 

1  Cf.  in  illustration  of  this  part  of  the  subject,  Problem  of  0.  T.t 
ch.  xi.,  'Archaeology  and  the  0.  T. ' ;  and  The  Bible  Under  Trial, 
ch.  vi.,  '  Archaeology  as  Searchlight. ' 


iv.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  75 

but  be  observed  that  revelation  in  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  New  circles  specially  round  these  two 
poles.  With  Moses  are  connected  the  prophets ; l 
with  Christ  the  apostles.2  There  is,  indeed,  as  has 
already  been  seen,  an  earlier  stage — the  patriarchal, 
likewise  connected  with  an  epoch-making  name : 
Abraham's.  But  Moses  and  Christ  remain  the 
great,  the  outstanding,  figures  in  revelation.  'The 
law  was  given  through  Moses  ;  grace  and  truth  came 
through  Jesus  Christ.'  3  And  when  we  study  these 
figures  carefully,  we  perceive,  notwithstanding  the 
immeasurable  distance  that  separates  them — Moses, 
the  servant  in  the  house,  and  Christ,  the  Son  over 
His  own  house  4 — a  certain  analogy  in  their  positions. 
To  look  first  at  Christ.  Here  the  thing  which  must 
chiefly  strike  the  attentive  reader  of  the  Gospels  about 
Christ,  regarded  as  Revealer,  is  His  perfect  unity 
of  mind  and  will  with  God — what  we  may  call,  with 
Ritschl,  His  '  solidarity  '  with  God.  While  recog- 
nising in  Christ  One  who  is  filled  with  the  Spirit 
beyond  measure,5  it  does  not  readily  occur  to  us, 
in  reading  the  Gospel  narratives,  to  think  or  speak 
of  Christ  as  '  inspired.'  The  unity  of  mind  of  Christ 
and  God  is  too  intimate  for  that.  It  cannot  but  be 
noticed,  further,  that,  while  Christ  is  unceasing  in 
His  inculcation  of  the  duty  of  '  faith  '  on  others, 
He  never  in  a  single  instance  speaks  of  Himself  as 
having  '  faith  '  in  God,  or  '  believing  '  in  God.  The 
reason  is  the  obvious  one  that  in  Christ  '  knowledge  ' 
in  relation  to  God — pure,  immediate,  reciprocal, 
perfect  knowledge — takes  the  place  of  what  is  '  faith  ' 
in    us.      '  No    one    knoweth    the    Son,    save    the 

1  Matt.  vii.  12;  Luke,  xvi.  31 ;  xxiv.  17,  etc  2  Eph.  ii.  20. 

*  John,  i.  17.  *  Heb.  iii.  5,  6.  "  John,  iii.  34. 


76  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

Father  ;  neither  doth  any  one  know  the  Father, 
save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whom  the  Son  willeth  to 
reveal  Him.'  x  Faith  in  us  is  the  response  to  this 
revelation  which  Christ  gives  of  the  Father.  But 
Christ  had  no  other  to  act  as  the  medium  of  revela- 
tion to  Him .  He  drew  direc  tly  from  the  divine  sourc  e . 
The  manner  of  this  perfect  intersphering  of  know- 
ledge of  Christ  and  the  Father — an  intersphering 
which  gave  to  Christ  at  all  points  in  His  earthly  life 
a  knowledge  of  the  purpose  and  will  of  the  Father — 
is  part  of  that  '  mystery  of  godliness  '  2  which  we 
can  never  hope  fully  to  penetrate.  But  the  fact  is 
there — not  less  evident  in  the  Synoptics  than  in  the 
Fourth  Gospel ;  and  it  presents  us  with  the  perfect 
type  of  revelation. 

Now  it  is  worthy  of  observation  that  it  is  an 
approach  to  this  higher  mode  of  revelation — though 
necessarily  on  an  immensely  lower  level — which  is 
attributed  to  Moses,  the  founder  of  the  old  dis- 
pensation, as  Christ  is  of  the  new.  It  is  thus  that 
the  position  of  Moses  is  differentiated  from  that  of 
succeeding  prophets — that,  while  the  Lord  made 
Himself  known  to  these  in  dark  speeches,  He  knew 
Moses  face  to  face,  and  spoke  to  him  mouth  to 
mouth.3  There  was  an  immediacy,  freedom,  and 
unveiled  character  in  the  intercourse  of  Moses  with 
God  which  suited  the  place  of  honour  he  occupied, 
and  the  work  he  had  to  do,  in  the  economy  of 
revelation  ;  and  on  this  height  of  privilege  he  stood 
alone  till  the  Prophet  like  unto  Moses  4  appeared  in 

i  Matt.  xi.  27.  2  1  Tim.  iii.  16. 

3  Num.  xii.  6-8  ;  Deut.  xxxiv.  10.  Something  of  the  same  kind 
is  suggested  of  Abraham — the  earlier  great  figure  in  revelation — in 
Is.  xli.  8  :  'Abraham  my  friend.' 

*  Deut.  xviii.  15 ;  Acts,  yii.  37. 


iv.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  77 

the  fulness  of  the  times.  There  will  seem  to  many 
a  supreme  improbability  in  the  supposition  that, 
holding  this  unique  place  in  the  history  of  revelation, 
Moses  should  be  the  dim  and  legendary  figure  which 
modern  critical  theories  assert. 

It  is  in  any  case  to  be  remarked  that  the  higher 
prophetic  consciousness  of  a  later  age  never  attained 
to  the  altitude  here  assigned  to  Moses.  Even  where 
trance  and  vision  are  transcended,  as  generally  they 
are  in  the  higher  prophecy,  the  prophet  still 
struggles  with  his  message  as  with  something  distinct 
from  himself,  borne  in  upon  him  from  without, 
weighing  as  a  '  burden  *  on  his  spirit,  and  only 
imperfectly  assimilated  by  his  own  understanding. 
In  this  respect  the  superiority  of  the  New  Testament 
revelation  stands  out  in  bold  relief.  An  older  writer, 
Dr.  P.  Fairbairn,  calls  attention  to  this  distinction 
in  his  work  on  Prophecy.  '  To  some  extent,'  he 
says,  '  indeed,  though  very  imperfectly  as  compared 
with  Christ,  the  apostles  shared  in  this  higher  stand- 
ing and  freer  communion  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
form  a  marked  distinction  between  them  and  the 
prophets  of  the  earlier  dispensation.  For,  excepting 
on  a  few  special  occasions,  they  never  appear  to  have 
received  revelations  in  trance  or  vision  ;  and,  like 
men  habitually  replenished  with  the  Spirit,  they 
spoke  and  wrote  as  if  the  Lord  Himself  spoke  and 
wrote  in  them.'  1  This  has  an  important  bearing 
on  the  question  of  inspiration,  for  it  is  precisely 
this  more  perfect  interpenetration  of  the  apostles 
with  the  Spirit  which,  in  the  eyes  of  many,  casts 
doubt  on  their  possession  of  the  Spirit  in  any 
peculiar  degree  at  all.     Many  who  would  not  question 

i  Op.  cit.  p.  11.     Cf.  e.g.  1  Thess.  ii.  13. 


78  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

that  the  Old  Testament  prophets  were  the  recipients 
of  revelations  transcending  their  natural  faculties, 
are  yet  disposed  to  attribute  everything  in  the 
apostolic  writings  to  the  private  thoughts'  and 
speculations  of  their  authors,  and  leave  no  room  for 
anything  of  the  nature  of  authoritative  revelation. 
Yet  surely  the  position  of  the  apostle  in  the  economy 
of  revelation  is  higher  than  that  of  the  prophet,  and 
the  New  Testament  is  not  inferior  in  fulness  of 
inspiration  to  the  Old. 


III.  Forms  of  Biblical  Eevelation. 

Revelation  is  objective,  and  likewise,  it  has  been 
seen,  internal.  It  has,  besides,  its  higher  and  lower 
forms,  the  study  of  which  helps  to  throw  light  on  its 
nature  and  supernatural  origin.  Prophecy  has  been 
named  as  the  highest  form  of  Old  Testament  revela- 
tion. But  attention  may  first  be  given  to  its 
earlier  and  lower  forms, — those  which  lead  up  to 
the  richer  developments,  and,  in  part,  are  involved 
in  the  latter. 

Only  a  brief  reference  is  necessary  to  certain 
modes  of  revelation — not,  however,  the  earliest, — to 
which  analogies  are  found  in  other  religions.  Such, 
e.g.,  is  the  use  of  the  '  lot,'  which  appears  frequently 
in  the  Bible.  Divination,  indeed,  or  the  attempt  to 
discover  the  divine  will,  or  forecast  the  future,  by 
means  of  omens  (cf.  Ezek.  xxi.  21),  or  other  arbitrary 
signs,  is  everywhere  sternly  prohibited.1  But  a 
religious  character  is  ascribed  to  the  lot.2  Examples 
of   its   use   on   solemn   occasions   are   seen   in   the 


i  Lev.  xix.  26,  31 ;  Deut.  xviii.  10-14.  2  Prov.  xvi.  33. 


iv.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  79 

detection  of  Achan,1  the  partition  of  Canaan,2  the 
election  of  Saul,3  in  the  New  Testament,  in  the 
choosing  of  Matthias.4  Probably  akin  to  the  lot  was 
the  mysterious  '  Urim  and  Thummim '  of  the 
High  Priest.5  This  humble  means  of  giving 
guidance  on  critical  occasions,  God,  in  His  conde- 
scension, permitted  and  made  use  of  :  the  reality 
of  the  divine  oracle  being  guaranteed  by  its  fulfil- 
ment.6 

Of  modes  or  forms  of  divine  revelation  in  the 
stricter  sense  the  following  may  be  distinguished. 

1.  The  lowest  form  of  special  revelation  recog- 
nised in  Scripture  is  the  dream.  It  is  not  implied 
that  dreams  generally,  then,  any  more  than  now, 
were  indications  of  the  divine  will.  '  A  dream 
cometh  with  multitude  of  business.'7  '  Dreamer  ' 
is  a  term  of  reproach.8  Dreams  are  put  in  a 
low  grade  in  the  Biblical  revelations.  A  prophet 
is  not  allowed  to  authenticate  himself  only  by 
dreams.9  In  special  cases,  however,  God  employed 
the  dreaming  state  as  a  vehicle  for  His  revelations. 
Generally  it  was  persons  who  were  not  ordinarily 
or  properly  organs  of  revelation  who  received 
communications    in    this   way — secular  personages, 

1  Josh.  vii.  14  ff.  2  Josh.  xiii.  6 ;  xiv.  2. 

3  1  Sam.  x.  20-22.  *  Acts,  i.  26. 

5  Ex.  xxviii.  30  ;  Deut.  xxxiii.  8,  etc.  The  precise  nature  of  the 
priestly  oracle  is  disputed.  On  Egyptian  analogies,  cf.  Oehler, 
Theol.  of  0.  T.  (E.  T.),  i.  p.  319.  Oehler  remarks :  'These  methods 
of  inquiring  into  the  divine  will  retire  into  the  background  the  more 
prophecy  is  unfolded '  (p.  320). 

6  Thus  in  the  cases  of  Achan  and  Saul,  as  above  ;  in  the  history  of 
David,  1  Sam.  xxiii.  2,  4,  11,  12,  etc. 

7  Eccles.  v.  3. 

8  Gen.  xxxvii.  19. 

9  Deut.  xiii.  2-5 ;  Jer.  xxiii.  23,  etc. 


80  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

heathen  kings,  etc.  (e.g.,  Abimelech,1  Laban,2  Joseph,3 
Pharaoh's  butler  and  baker,4  Pharaoh  himself,5 
Nebuchadnezzar ; 6  in  the  New  Testament,  Joseph,7 
the  Magis).  The  dream  in  a  few  of  these  cases 
does  not  interpret  itself,  but  has  to  be  interpreted 
by  another  (Joseph,  Daniel).  There  is  analogy 
for  this  mode  of  revelation,  in  some  degree,  in  the 
natural  phenomena  of  dreams  ;  for  it  seems  undeni- 
able that  in  the  sleeping  state  the  soul  is  some- 
times laid  bare  to  the  invisible  world  in  a  way  that 
it  is  not  in  the  waking  condition.9  In  accordance 
with  this  natural  basis,  there  is  always  a  subjective 
or  psychological  side  to  revelations  through  dreams 
which  imparts  to  them  their  special  colouring. 
Pharaoh's  dreams,  e.g.,  reflect  the  conditions  of  the 
Nile.10 

2.  Akin  to  the  dream,  though  of  a  much  higher 
character,  is  the  vision,11  frequently  employed  as  a 

i  Gen.  xx.  3,  6.  z  Gen.  xxxi.  24. 

3  Gen.  xxxvii.  5.  Joseph's  dreams  were  those  of  secular  pre- 
eminence. 4  Gen.  xl.  5.  5  Gen.  xli.  1  ft. 

6  Dan.  ii.  1  ft.  7  Matt.  i.  20 ;  ii.  13,  19.      8  Matt.  ii.  12. 

9  Well-authenticated  cases  exist  of  impressions,  presentiments, 
perceptions  of  things  distant,  even  of  prevision,  in  the  sleeping  state, 
which  go  beyond  the  limits  of  explanation  by  mere  coincidence.  The 
unusual  powers  manifested  in  somnambulism  are  familiar.  Cf.  the 
publications  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  ;  Myers's  Human 
Personality,  etc. 

10  The  dream  is  regarded  as  a  peculiarity  of  the  E  document  in  the 
Pentateuch.  On  this,  cf.  Prob.  of  the  0.  T.,  p.  233.  Wellhausen 
infers  from  Gen.  xxxviii.  19,  that  J  also  must  have  related  Joseph's 
dream.  The  predominance  of  the  dream  in  E  sections  may  be  con- 
nected with  the  fact  that  in  the  cases  of  Abimelech,  Laban,  Pharaoh, 
etc.,  God  appears  in  His  general  character  as  the  God  of  providence. 

11  The  words  used  for  vision  are  ilSlD  (e.g.,  Num.  xii.  6)  or  }Wn 
(2  Sam.  vii.  17 ;  Job,  iv.  13,  etc.),  but  more  commonly  pjn  (Is.  i.  1, 
etc.). 


iv.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  81 

form  of  revelation.  In  Jacob's  vision  at  Bethel  it 
is  said  that  Jacob  '  dreamed,'  but  the  narrative  has 
more  the  character  associated  with  vision.1  Vision, 
however,  was  not  necessarily,  or  even  commonly, 
in  sleep.  It  may  be  described  as  an  abnormal 
state  of  consciousness,  the  effect  of  God's  Spirit, 
in  which  the  mind  is  supernaturally  elevated,  and 
things  are  seen  and  heard  which  would  not  be  seen 
or  heard  in  the  ordinary  state.  The  '  eyes  are 
opened.' 2  The  veil  is  drawn  aside  which  divides 
seen  and  unseen,  and  there  is  an  apprehension  of 
supersensible  realities.  On  its  human  side,  the 
vision  is  a  subjective  phenomenon,  that  is,  the 
things  seen  and  heard  are  not  there  as  outward 
facts,  at  least  in  the  form  in  which  they  are  perceived 
(the  form  is  often  symbolical),  but  are  presented 
to  the  inner  eye  or  ear.  Yet  it  is  a  true  presentation 
from  the  spiritual  world. 

It  is  obvious  that,  psychologically  and  other- 
wise, the  phenomena  of  vision  present  many  diffi- 
culties not  easy  to  resolve.  The  things  presented 
in  vision,  like  all  inner  phenomena,  take  on  a  mental 
or  imaginative  character,  yet  are  the  means  through 
which,  in  sight  and  sound,  a  divine  revelation  is 
conveyed.  A  typical  example  is  the  vision  of 
Isaiah  at  the  time  of  his  call.3  Jehovah  is  beheld 
seated  on  a  throne,  high  and  lifted  up,  in  the  temple, 
with  the  seraphim  adoring.  The  foundations  of 
the  threshold  of  the  building  shake,  and  the  house 
is  filled  with  smoke.     It  is  plain  that,  in  this  vision, 

1  Gen.  xxviii.  12.     Jacob  falls  asleep  in  the  E  document,  and 
awakes  in  the  J  document. 

2  Cf.  Num.  xxii.  31 ;  2  Kings,  vi.  17. 
*  Is.  vi. 

F 


82  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

the  prophet  was  not  beholding  an  objective  reality.1 
There  was  not  really  a  throne  set  up  in  the  temple, 
nor  was  the  house  actually  filled  with  smoke.  Yet 
through  this  vision  the  prophet  received,  as  it  was 
intended  he  should,  a  true  impression  of  Jehovah's 
presence,  majesty,  and  holiness,  humbling  him  with 
a  sense  of  his  own  unworthiness ;  then,  in  the 
words  spoken,  and  the  touching  of  his  lips  with  the 
live  coal  from  the  altar,  obtained  the  certainty  of 
his  divine  call,  consecration,  and  message  to  the 
people. 

Vision  is  found  as  a  form  of  revelation  in  both 
the  Old  Testament  and  the  New.  An  early  example 
is  in  the  forming  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham. 
Jacob  had  repeated  visions.2  As  other  instances, 
Moses  and  the  elders  of  Israel  had  visions,3  Balaam 
prophesied  in  vision,4  Samuel's  call  was  in  vision.5 
Still  vision  is  comparatively  rare  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment till  the  prophetic  period.6  It  is  found  in  marked 
degree  in  the  later  prophets — Jeremiah,  Ezekiel, 
and  Zechariah,  and  is,  naturally,  the  predominant 
feature  in  Apocalyptic  prophecy  (Daniel ;  in  the 
New  Testament,  the  Book  of  Revelation).  In  the 
New  Testament  we  have  the  visions  of  Cornelius  and 
Peter.7  Paul  also  had  'visions  and  revelations  of 
the  Lord.'  8    The  Apocalypse  is  wholly  vision. 

The  place  of  vision  in  prophecy  will  be  better 
considered  when  that  form  of  revelation  comes  to 

1  Cf.  John's  vision  of  Christ  in  Eev.  i. 

2  Gen.  xlvi.  2  ff.  ;  cf.  xxviii.  10  ff.  ;    xxxi.  11  ff.  ('dream') ;    xxxv. 
1,  9  ff.  s  Ex.  xxiv.  9  ff.  ;  xxxiii.  18  ff. 

*  Num.  xxiv.  3,  4  ff.  H  Sam.  iii.  13. 

6  Vision  is  found  in  the  ministries  of  Elijah  and  Elisha ;  in  Amos, 
yiii.  1  ff.;  etc.     Isaiah's  vision  is  referred  to  above. 
1  Acts,  x.  3  ff.,  9  ff.  8  2  Cor.  xii.  1. 


iv.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  83 

be  directly  treated.  The  view  once  held  that  all 
prophecy  was  uttered  in  a  state  of  ecstasy  must  be 
set  aside  as  out  of  harmony  with  the  facts.  If,  as 
frequently  happens,  the  name  '  vision '  is  used  to 
describe  those  prophecies  in  which,  properly  speak- 
ing, no  vision  occurs — e.g.,  '  the  vision  of  Isaiah 
the  son  of  Amoz ' l — this  is  to  be  explained  by  the 
usage  of  a  time  in  which  vision  was,  perhaps,  the 
predominant  form  of  prophecy  ;  but  is  also  intended 
to  denote  the  fact  of  the  exaltation,  the  super- 
natural origin,  and  the  vividness — as  of  actual 
seeing  —  of  the  prophetic  perception.  For  un- 
doubtedly prophecy  was  in  every  case  an  elevation 
above  the  ordinary  state  of  consciousness.  More 
difficult  is  the  question,  how  far  the  state  called 
vision  enters  in  narrative  and  prophecy  into  ex- 
periences which  are  not  directly  described  as  such. 
The  burning  bush  beheld  by  Moses,2  e.g., — would 
that  have  been  seen  by  any  other  eyes  but  his  at 
that  time  and  place  ?  Possibly  not ;  yet  the  '  glory 
of  the  Lord  '  appears  so  often  in  the  narrative  as  an 
objective  phenomenon — e.g.,  in  the  pillar  of  cloud  and 
fire — that  it  is  reasonable  to  assume  a  real  appear- 
ance at  the  bush  also.  The  speaking  of  the  ass 
of  Balaam,3  again — that  subject  which  has  caused 
so  much  concern — would  that  have  been  heard  by 
the  ear  of  any  ordinary  bystander  ?  Or  was  it,  as 
the  context  would  suggest,  an  impression  on  Balaam's 
own  mind  ?  Still  less  is  it  easy  to  determine 
whether  certain  of  the  actions  of  the  prophets  which 
are  related  in  the  form  of  narrative — e.g.,  Jeremiah's 
hiding  of  his  girdle  by  the  river  Euphrates  4 — are  to 

lis.  i.  1.  2  Ex.  iii.  2. 

*  Num.  xxii.  22-35.  4  Jer.  xiii  1-5. 


84  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

be  understood  as  literal  transactions,  or  as  events 
occurring  in  vision.  The  question  is  reserved  to 
another  chapter. 

3.  A  third  and  exceptionally  interesting  form  of 
revelation,  belonging  peculiarly  to  patriarchal  and 
Mosaic  times,  is  that  through  the  Angel  of  God,  or 
Angel  of  Jehovah.  This  is  a  form  of  revelation  which 
stands  by  itself,  and  presents  peculiarities  which 
have  given  rise  to  much  discussion.  The  fact  that 
it  belongs  almost  exclusively  to  the  earlier  period, 
when  revelation  was  preponderatingly  objective, 
shows  that  it  is  part  of  the  original  tradition,  and 
not  a  reflection  from  later  prophetic  times,  when 
revelation  had  a  totally  different  form. 

The  peculiarity  of  revelation  by  the  Malach,  or 
Angel  of  Jehovah,  is,  that  this  angel  appears  as  a 
divine  messenger,  yet  constantly  acts  and  speaks 
in  a  way  which  implies  His  identity  with  Jehovah. 
The  doctrine  of  angels,  it  is  to  be  remarked,  is  not 
one  highly  developed  in  the  Pentateuch.  When 
angels  appear,  as  at  Bethel  and  Mahanaim,  it  is 
collectively.1  This  angel,  in  any  case,  is  not  an 
ordinary  angel,  but  stands  in  a  peculiar  nearness  to 
Jehovah,  represents  Him,  and,  as  far  as  words 
can  do  it,  is  identified  with  Him.  The  '  Angel  of 
the  Lord '  (Jehovah)  appears  to  Hagar,  but  He 
speaks  to  her  as  God  ; 2  and  the  next  verse  reads  : 
'  And  she  called  the  name  of  the  Lord  that  spake 
unto  her,  Thou  art  a  God  that  seeth.'  3  Abraham 
extends  hospitality  to  three  travellers,  one  of  whom 
is  early  identified  with  Jehovah,   the  omnipotent,4 

1  Gen.  xxviii.  12 ;  xxxii.  1,  2.     The  paucity  of  reference  to  angels 
is  another  mark  of  the  early  nature  of  the  tradition. 

2  Gen.  xvi.  10-12.  3  Ver.  13.  4  Gen.  xviii.  13,  14. 


iv.]  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  85 

the  righteous,1  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth.2  It  is 
Jehovah  who  departs  from  Abraham  after  his 
intercession  for  Sodom.3  The  '  Angel  of  the  Lord,' 
again,  appears  to  Abraham  on  Moriah,  and  speaks 
as  Jehovah.4  It  is  evidently  this  same  Angel  with 
whom,  as  a  man,  Jacob  wrestles,  and  obtains  from 
Him,  as  God,  the  blessing.5  In  Gen.  xlviii.  15,  16, 
God  and  the  Angel  are  apparently  identified.  It  is 
the  '  Angel  of  the  Lord '  who  reveals  Himself  to 
Moses  at  the  bush  as  the  God  of  the  fathers,  and  as 
'Jehovah'  ('I  Am').6  'Jehovah,'  but  elsewhere 
'  the  Angel  of  God,'  goes  before  the  Israelites  ;  and 
the  people  are  warned  not  to  provoke  the  Angel,  for 
Jehovah's  '  Name  '  is  in  Him.8  It  is  unnecessary 
to  deal  with  the  later  appearances,  as  to  Joshua, 
Gideon,  Manoah,  etc.9 

How,  it  is  naturally  asked,  are  such  appearances 
to  be  understood  ?  Different  answers  have  been 
given. 

1.  One  view  held  by  many  is  that  the  Malach  is 
a  created  angel,  of  high  dignity,  who  represents 
God,  and  speaks  in  His  name,  as  later  is  done  by 
the  prophets.10  The  analogy,  however,  does  not 
hold.  The  prophets,  indeed,  speak  for  Jehovah  in 
the  first  person,  but  they  as  clearly  again  distinguish 
themselves  from  their  message  and  its  Author. 
They  usually  preface  their  message  with  a  '  Thus 

i  Ver.  19.  2  Ver.  25.  3  Ver.  33. 

*  Gen.  xxii.  11  ff.  B  Gen.  xxxi.  24-30 ;  cf.  Hos.  xii.  4. 

6  Ex.  iii.  6,  14.  »  Ex.  xiii.  21 ;  xiv.  19. 

8  Ex.  xxiii.  20,  21. 

9  Josh.  v.  13-15 ;  Judg.  vi.  11  ff. ;  xiii.  3  ff.  ;  cf.  Is.  lxiii.  9 ;  Zech. 
iii.  1 ;  Mai.  iii.  1  ff. 

10  Thus  Augustine  and  other  Fathers.     In  modern  times,  Hofmann, 
Kurtz,  Delitzsch,  etc. 


86  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

saith  Jehovah,'  and  no  one  dreams  of  identifying 
them  with  the  Jehovah  whose  words  they  utter. 
But  the  Malach  does  not  bring  a  message  of  this 
kind.  He  speaks  in  the  first  person,  and  in  the 
course  of  the  narrative  we  find  that  the  speaker 
is  directly  interchanged  with  Jehovah,  and  is 
addressed  as  Jehovah. 

2.  A  second  view,  accordingly,  is  that  the  Malach 
is  not  personally  distinct  from  Jehovah,  but  is 
simply  a  manifestation  of  Jehovah  Himself  in  the 
phenomenal  world — an  entrance  into  visibility  for 
the  immediate  end  of  revelation — a  direct  theo'phany. 
This  might  be  accepted,  and  answers  well  to  certain 
of  the  passages,  but  fails  to  do  justice  to  the  fact  that 
in  most  of  the  places — indeed,  in  the  name  itself — 
a  distinction  from  Jehovah  is  implied  as  well  as  a 
seeming  identity  with  Him. 

3.  The  third  view,  therefore,  usually  held  by  those 
who  reject  the  first,  is  that,  in  the  Malach,  we  have 
indeed  a  manifestation  of  Jehovah,  but  of  Jehovah 
in  the  form  of  self-distinction.  The  revelation 
through  the  Angel,  in  other  words,  points  to  a  real 
distinction  in  the  nature  of  God  such  as  is  associated 
in  the  New  Testament  with  the  idea  of  the  Logos 
or  Son.  The  Malach,  on  this  view,  is  identified  with 
the  Word,  or  Son  of  God,  who  afterwards  became 
incarnate  in  Christ.  Many  of  the  Fathers  (Justin 
Martyr,  Tertullian,1  Irenaeus,  etc.)  adopt  this  inter- 
pretation of  the  theophanies.  It  is  a  view  which 
has  been  held  very  widely  in  the  Church. 

The  objection  naturally  taken  to  this  third  inter- 
pretation is  that  it  seems  to  read  back  into  the  early 

1  Tertullian  speaks  of  the  theophanies  as  'rehearsals'  of  the  in- 
carnation. 


iv.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  87 

stages  of  revelation  the  New  Testament  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity.  In  reply  it  may  be  said  that  the 
question  is  really  not  so  much  one  of  doctrine 
as  of  the  interpretation  of  historical  facts.  We 
cannot,  indeed,  legitimately  read  back  New  Testament 
ideas  into  these  early  narratives,  as  if  the  writers 
possessed,  or  intended  to  convey,  a  developed 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  But  it  is  not  inadmissible, 
in  interpreting  God's  earlier  revelations,  to  use  any 
light  that  comes  to  us  from  the  later;  and  if  later 
revelation  makes  clear  to  us,  as  it  does,  a  real  self- 
distinction  in  God,  there  exists  no  reason  why  we 
should  not  avail  ourselves  of  the  aid  of  that  truth 
here.  Oehler  seems  to  come  very  near  the  essence 
of  the  matter  when  he  sums  up  by  saying,  that 
c  the  Mdlacli  was  a  self-presentation  of  Jehovah 
entering  into  the  sphere  of  the  creature,  which  is 
one  in  essence  with  Jehovah,  and  is  yet  again  distinct 
from  Him.' 1  The  appearances  of  the  Malach  may 
thus  reasonably  be  held  to  be  an  adumbration,  and 
in  part  an  anticipation,  of  the  later  incarnation  of 
the  Son.2 

The  other  forms  of  theophany  in  the  Old  Testament, 
as  in  the  fire  at  the  bush,  the  pillar  of  fire,  the  glory 
at  the  tabernacle,  etc.,  are  not  always  to  be  distin- 
guished from  the  Malach,  but  are,  as  already  seen, 
forms  of  His  manifestation. 

i  Op.  cit,  i.  p.  193. 

2  Even  H.  Schultz,  who  takes  a  mediating  view,  allows :  '  There  is 
undoubtedly  in  the  Angel  of  God  something  of  that  which  Christian 
theology  means  to  express  by  the  doctrine  of  the  Logos'  (0.  T.  Theol. 
(E.T.),  ii.  p  223).  Delitzsch,  who  favours  the  idea  of  a  created  angel 
(New  Com.  on  Genesis,  on  ch.  xvi.  7,  etc.),  still  holds  that  'the 
ange'ologies  of  God  were  a  prefiguration  of  His  Christophany' 
(ii.  p.  21). 


88  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch- 


CHAPTER  Y 

forms  of  revelation,  continued:  PROPHECY — 

DIFFICULTIES   OF  REVELATION 

Three  forms  of  divine  revelation  have  been 
adverted  to — dream,  vision,  and  theophany,  or 
revelation  through  the  Malach  or  '  Angel  of 
Jehovah.'  It  is  now  necessary  to  speak  of  prophecy — 
the  highest  and  most  important  of  all  forms  of  Old 
Testament  revelation. 

I.  Nature  of  Prophecy. 

1.  Prophecy  is  a  phenomenon  peculiar  to  Israel. 
Heathenism  has  divination,  oracles,  manticism ;  x 
and  it  has  been  seen  that  divine  impulse  and  guidance 
are  not  wholly  to  be  refused  to  the  wise  men  and 
teachers  of  other  peoples.2  But  in  Israel  alone 
we  have  the  spectacle  of  a  succession  of  men, 
speaking  with  full  consciousness  in  the  name  of  a 
holy  and  righteous  God,  maintaining  a  lofty  and 
continuous  testimony  to  His  will  and  purpose,  and, 
amidst  the  greatest  revolutions  in  outward  affairs, 
unerringly  interpreting  His  providence  in  its  bearing 
on    the    ends    of    His    Kingdom — testimony    and 

i  On  the  phenomena  in  heathenism,  cf.  again  Orelli,  op.  cit.  (E.T.)} 
pp.  13  ff.  According  to  Plato  (in  Timaeus),  the  /xavris  was  the 
ecstatic  utterer  of  an  oracle ;  the  jrpo^Trjs  the  sober-minded  inter- 
preter of  the  oracle  of  the  former.  2  See  above,  p.  57. 


v.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  89 

prediction  finding  their  fulfilment  in  the  advent, 
work,  and  spiritual  Kingdom  of  the  New  Testament 
Redeemer.1 

Prophecy  has  its  analogy  in  human  genius.  Some, 
accordingly,  have  sought  its  explanation  in  that 
gift  of  geniality,  of  presentiment,  of  divining 
intuition,  with  which  certain  nobler  natures  are 
undeniably  endowed ;  2  others  see  in  it  only  a 
heightening  of  that  spiritual  faculty  which,  through 
faith  in  God  and  righteousness,  discerns  the  sure 
issues  of  good  or  evil,  wise  or  foolish,  conduct,  to 
which  the  multitudes  are  blind.3  But  while  a  basis 
of  natural  endowment,  fitting  him  for  his  vocation, 
is  always  presupposed  in  the  prophet,  this  alone  falls 
far  short  of  accounting  for  the  kind  of  prophecy 
we  have  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  clearness, 
elevation,  certainty,  decision,  above  all,  the  spiritual 
content  of  Old  Testament  prophecy,  present  features 
which  every  naturalistic  theory,  and  even  general 
spiritual  illumination,  fail  to  explain.  The  element 
of  prediction  in  prophecy  stands  by  itself.  But  in 
their  ministry  as  a  whole  the  prophets  knew  with 
perfect  clearness  that  the  vision  they  received, 
the  word  of  God  which  came  to  them  with  over- 
mastering certainty,  the  message  given  them  for  the 

1  After  careful  examination,  Orelli  says:  'We  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  no  phenomenon  analogous  to  Biblical  prophecy,  even 
in  form,  is  anywhere  to  be  found  in  the  world  of  nations '  (op.  cit., 
p.  24). 

2  On  these  views,  cf.  Oehler,  Theol.  of  0.  T.y  ii.  pp.  340  ff.  Giese- 
brecht,  more  recently,  explains  prophecy  from  a  'gift  of  Ahnungs- 
vermbgeii'  with  which  the  prophet  is  endowed — heightened,  how- 
ever, by  the  action  of  the  Spirit  of  God  (Die  Berufgabung  der 
Alttest.  Propheten,  pp.  74,  76,  77,  etc.). 

*  Thus  Ewald,  and  many. 


90  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

people,  were  not  the  products  of  their  own  thoughts, 
but  had  their  source  in  the  divine  revealing  Spirit. 

2.  A  probable  etymology  of  the  Hebrew  words  for 
'  prophet '  and  '  prophecy  '  connects  them  with  a 
root  meaning  *  to  bubble.' x  Hence  the  prophet 
would  be  one  in  whom  the  divine  inspiration  bubbles 
up  from  heart  to  lip.  Whatever  the  etymology, 
the  general  sense  of  the  word  '  prophet '  is  not 
doubtful.  The  prophet  is  one  who  speaks  for  God 
to  men  :  he  is,  as  Augustine  calls  him,  enuntiator 
verborum  del  liominibus.  This  function  of  the  prophet 
is  defined  in  Deut.  xviii.  18  :  *  I  will  raise  them  up  a 
prophet  from  among  their  brethren  like  unto  thee  ; 
and  I  will  put  my  words  in  his  mouth,  and  he  shall 
speak  unto  them  all  that  I  shall  command  him.'  2 
The  expressions  employed  to  describe  the  prophetic 
state  are  such  as  imply  direct  inspiration  and 
revealing  action.  The  Spirit  of  God  comes  on  the 
prophets  ;  falls  on  them  ;  '  the  hand  of  Jehpvah  ' 
is  strong  upon  them ; 3  they  perceive,  as  with  the 
force  of  bodily  perception,  facts  or  truths  presented 
to  their  minds  ;  4  they  receive  a  '  word  '  of  God, 
and  experience  an  irresistible  constraint  to  utter  it. 
The  recurring  formula  is,  '  the  word  of  God  came  * 

i  ^23  (prophet)  from  KD3  (cognate  to  V^),  used  only  in  Niphal 
and  Hithpael  (to  prophesy).  The  Niphal  form  perhaps  suggests 
passivity. 

2  In  this  sense  Aaron  is  given  to  be  a  'prophet'  to  Moses,  i.e.,  to 
speak  for  him  (Ex.  iv.  10-17  ;  vii.  1). 

3  Is.  viii.  11 ;  Jer.  xv.  17 ;  Ezek.  i.  3 ;  iii.  22 ;  xxxvii.  1,  etc. 

4  Cf.  Orelli,  op.  cit.,  p.  5:  'The  essential  element  to  be  maintained 
in  prophecy  is,  that  it  sees  its  contents  before  announcing  them.  .  .  . 
The  contents  of  prophecy  are,  consequently,  not  something  thought 
out,  inferred,  hoped,  or  feared  by  the  prophets,  but  something 
directly  perceived.' 


v.J  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  91 

to  one  or  another ;  1  and  this  word,  which  the 
prophets  distinguish  quite  clearly  from  their  own 
thoughts  and  desires,  they  unhesitatingly  proclaim 
as  the  word  of  Jehovah,  and  take  their  stand  upon 
its  truth  and  the  certainty  of  its  fulfilment. 

3.  It  was  formerly  a  not  uncommon  conception, 
borrowed  from  Philo  and  the  early  Church,  that  the 
prophets  received  their  oracles  in  a  state  of  ecstasy,  in 
which  their  own  minds  were  purely  passive.2  The 
element  of  truth  to  be  recognised  in  this  view  is, 
that  prophecy  implied  an  unusual  and  exalted  state 
of  consciousness,  and  sometimes  took  the  form  of 
ecstasy  or  vision.  Is.  vi.  was  before  given  as  an 
example,  and  there  are  many  others.  But  that  this 
was  the  only  or  invariable — even  the  principal — 
way  of  receiving  divine  communications,  the  whole 
history  of  prophecy  refutes.  Nothing  is  plainer 
than  that,  in  all  the  higher  forms  of  prophecy,  the 
prophets  retained  their  consciousness  and  full 
command  of  their  faculties.  Not  only  were  their 
natural  powers  not  suppressed  :  they  were  raised 
to  the  fullest  activity  of  which  they  were  capable. 
'  It  has  been  justly  remarked,'  says  Riehm,  '  that 
from  the  40th  to  the  66th  chapters  of  Isaiah,  and, 
indeed,  in  most  of  the  predictions  of  Isaiah,  Jeremiah, 
Ezekiel,  Hosea,  Micah,  and  others,  there  is  no  trace 
of  a  description  of  pictures  seen  in  ecstasy.'  3  Even 
where  the  word  '  vision '  is  employed,  it  is  often, 
as  already  explained,  used  in  a  general  sense. 

1  Joel,  i.  1 ;  Jer.  i.  4 ;  xi.  13 ;  Ezek.  i.  3 ;  Zech.  i.  1  ;  Mai.  i.  1,  etc. 

2  Hengstenberg  at  first  defended  this  view,  but  afterwards  con- 
siderably modified  it. 

3  Messianic  PropJiecy  (E.T.),  p.  17.     On  a  possible  qualification  of 
this  statement,  in  respect  ot  vision,  see  below. 


92  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 


II.  Prophecy  in  its  Historic  Relations. 

1.  It  is  usual  to  connect  the  beginnings  of  prophecy 
with  Samuel,  and  appeal  is  made  in  support  of  this 
to  1  Sam.  ix.  9  :  '  He  that  is  now  called  a  prophet 
was  beforetime  called  a  seer.' l  This  usage,  however, 
can  only  have  application  to  a  particular  time 
('  The  word  of  the  Lord  was  precious  in  those  days  ; 
there  was  no  frequent  vision '  2),  or  to  official 
designation.  Biblical  history  knows  perfectly  well 
of  an  earlier  prophecy.3  Still,  prophecy  in  the 
more  official  and  continuous  sense  did  begin  with 
Samuel  and  his  prophetic  companies,  and  continued 
thereafter  uninterruptedly  till  after  the  return  from 
exile.  But  there  is  here  also  development.  Samuel 
himself  stands  from  the  first  on  the  higher  plane  of 
prophecy.  His  call  is  followed  by  a  calm,  equable 
development.4  But  in  the  circle  around  him  the 
action  of  the  spirit  of  prophecy  is  marked  by  the 
physical  excitement  which  denotes  a  lower  stage.5 
The  loftier  height  of  prophecy  is  again  reached,  at  a 
great  crisis  in  the  history  of  Israel,  by  Elijah  and 
Elisha,  who,  however,  are  still  acting,  rather  than 
teaching  or  writing,  prophets.  Finally,  with  Amos 
and  Hosea  (possibly  with  Joel)  begins  the  series 
of   writing    prophets,    who    continue    till    Malachi. 

1  The  term  '  seer '  denotes  a  gift  analogous  to  clairvoyance.  It 
does  not  follow  that  this  was  a  gift  in  the  prophet's  own  power,  or 
was  exercised  about  every  trifling  matter  on  which  people  sought  to 
consult  him.  The  prophet  saw  as  God  gave  him  to  see  (cf,  1  Sam. 
ix.  15),  and  his  answers  had  reference,  not  to  any  or  every  kind  of 
events,  but,  as  in  Saul's  case,  to  those  which  had  a  bearing  on  God's 
Kingdom.  2  i  Sam.  iii.  1. 

3  Thus  Abraham,  Moses,  Balaam,  Deborah,  etc. 

*  1  Sam.  iii.  19-21.  »  i  Sam.  x.  11-13 ;  xix.  20-24. 


v.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  93 

Not  till  the  eve  of  Christ's  appearance  is  the  voice 
of  prophecy  again  heard  (Zacharias,  Simeon,  John 
the  Baptist). 

2.  It  is  now  generally  recognised  as  a  serious 
mistake  of  older  writers  to  identify  prophecy  so 
exclusively  as  they  did  with  prediction,  and  to 
regard  tnis  in  the  light  of  an  external  seal  attached 
to  the  prophet's  message.  It  was  really  in  the 
prophet's  message  to  his  own  times  that  the  essence 
of  his  prophecy  lay.  The  prophet  was  in  the  first 
instance  a  messenger  to  his  own  age  and  people  : 
the  message  he  brought  was  one  called  forth  by  the 
needs  of  his  age,  and  in  form  and  substance  was 
adapted  to  these  needs.  It  does  not  follow,  because 
of  this,  that  it  was  a  message  only  for  his  own  time, 
and  did  not  embody  a  revelation  of  God  of  universal 
import,  fitted  to  take  its  place  in  the  general 
organism  of  revelation.  Prophecy  was  instinct 
with  germinal  ideas  ;  with  promises,  hopes, 
admonitions,  threatenings  ;  with  abundant  predic- 
tions of  nearer  or  more  remote  events,  in  their 
revelations  to  God's  Kingdom.  The  predictive 
element  will  be  referred  to  after.  The  chief  thing 
to  be  observed  at  present  is  the  intimate  relation 
which  prophecy  always  sustains  to  the  historical 
conditions  out  of  which  it  springs.  This  historical 
setting  can  never  be  ignored,  if  prophecy  is  to  be 
understood.  The  marvel  of  the  prophecy  of  Amos, 
e.g.,  can  only  be  realised  when  the  outward  prosperity, 
yet  inward  decadence,  of  the  reign  of  a  Jeroboam  n. 
in  Israel  are  kept  in  view  ;  the  plaint  of  Hosea, 
when  one  sees  the  eagles  of  Assyria  *  gathering  to 
make  their  prey  of  doomed  Samaria  ;    the  magnifi- 

1  Hos.  viii.  1. 


94  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

cence  of  Isaiah's  faith  and  courage,  when  one  places 
himself  in  the  midst  of  the  politics  and  perils  of 
Judah  in  the  age  of  Hezekiah  ;  the  patriotism  of 
Jeremiah,  or  prayer  of  Habakkuk,  when  one  hears 
the  resistless  tread  of  the  approaching  Chaldsean 
armies.  The  exile  must  be  remembered  in  order  to 
the  right  apprehension  of  the  visions  of  Ezekiel,  or 
of  the  consolations  and  hopes  of  the  oracles  of 
Is.  xl.  ff. 

III.  Tests  of  True  Prophecy. 

1.  But  were  the  prophets  under  no  hallucination 
when  they  ascribed,  as  they  so  confidently  did, 
their  messages  and  forecasts  of  the  future,  even  of 
far- distant  events,  to  the  voice  of  God  within  them  ? 
That  is  a  fair  question  to  ask.  Scripture  knows  of  a 
false  prophecy  as  well  as  of  a  true.  The  prophets 
themselves  had  to  wage  a  continual  warfare  with 
others  whom  they  denounced  as  deceivers.1  But 
may  not  these  so-called  '  false  prophets '  be,  as 
some  have  contended,  as  true  as  the  others,  and 
may  the  conflict  not  be  only  one  of  rival  prophetic 
camps  1     Where  is  the  test  ? 

The  prophecy  of  the  Bible  offers  such  tests — tests, 
however,  which,  like  those  applicable  to  Christ 
Himself,  presuppose  spiritual  discernment  in  those 
employing  them.  It  is  not  enough  that  the  prophets 
say  that  they  have  the  word  of  God  ;  that  they 
proclaim  their  possession  of  the  Spirit ;  that  they 
adduce  dreams.2  Four  tests  in  particular  may  be 
instanced  : — 

1  Mic.  iii.  16;  Jer.  xxiii.  9  ff. ;  Ezek.  xiii.  2  ff.,  etc.     Cf.  A.  B. 
Davidson,  0.  T.  Prophecy,  ch.  xvii.,  'The  False  Prophets.' 

2  Jer.  xxiii.  28.     It  is  not  enough  even  that  the  prophet  works 
miracles,  Deut.  xiii.  1-3. 


v.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  95 

(1)  The  claim  of  the  prophet  was  supported, 
first,  by  his  own  known  character  as  a  man  of  God. 
Genuine  prophecy  implied  a  spiritual  receptivity. 
For  the  reception  of  God's  word  there  was  needed 
a  preparation  of  soul,1  a  devout,  earnest,  deeply- 
religious  nature,  anxious  and  .waiting  on  God  to 
know  His  will.2  The  prophets  of  Israel  were  one 
and  all  men  of  uprightness  and  sincerity,  whose 
whole  spirit,  conduct,  manner  of  life,  and  freedom 
from  interested  motives,  placed  them  above  the 
suspicion  of  being  wilful  deceivers  or  self-deceived. 

(2)  Character,  however,  was  not  the  only  test. 
The  word  of  the  prophet  was  supported,  further, 
by  its  own  internal  power.  The  word  spoken  was 
in  large  measure  a  self- attesting  word  ;  a  word 
instinct  with  the  Spirit  of  holiness  ;  suited  to  the 
time  and  need  of  the  nation ;  to  that  extent  one 
which  could  be  verified  by  the  intelligence  and 
conscience  of  those  that  heard  it.3  As  originating 
from  God,  it  was  a  word  bearing  on  the  ends  of  God's 
Kingdom,  and  directed  to  the  furtherance  of  these 
ends. 

(3)  It  was  a  special  test  of  a  true  word  of  prophecy 
that  it  fitted  into  the  organism  of  revelation  ;  in  other 
words,  that  it  cohered  with,  and  did  not  subvert 
or  contradict,  the  scheme  of  revelation  so  far  as  it 
had  already  gone,  It  is  emphatically  laid  down, 
as  in  Deut.  xiii.  1-3,  that  the  prophetic  word  must 
not  contradict  fundamental  truth,  or  previous  words 
of  God,  but  must  establish  and  develop  them. 

1  Balaam  and  Saul  may  be  cited  as  instances  to  the  contrary.     But 
neither  could  have  been  accepted  as  a  prophet  in  Israel. 

2  Cf.  Hab.  ii.  1-4. 

8  Cf .  Paul,  2  Cor.  iv.  2 :  '  By  the  manifestation  of  the  truth  com- 
mending ourselves  to  every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God,' 


96  EEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

(4)  Finally,  a  test  of  the  word  of  prophecy  was  its 
fulfilment.  In  true  prophecy  there  was  generally 
some  promise,  warning,  or  declaration  of  God  as  to 
what  was  going  to  happen,  and  the  prophet's  stand- 
ing was  based  on  the  fulfilment  of  that  word.1  The 
fulfilment  of  prophecy,  accordingly,  is  often  appealed 
to  in  evidence  of  its  truth.2 

2.  Such  being  the  nature  of  genuine  prophecy,  it 
is  plain  that  the  prophetic  office  was  not  one  which 
any  individual  could  take  to  himself.  Neither 
genius,  nor  spiritual  disposition,  nor  training  by 
others,  could  of  itself  make  a  man  a  prophet.  The 
prophet  was  made  so  by  the  call  of  God,  and,  when 
that  call  came,  it  did  so  in  a  manner  about  which 
there  could  be  no  mistake.  Examples  suggest 
themselves  in  the  cases  of  Moses,3  Samuel,4 
Amos,5  Isaiah,6  Jeremiah.7  The  disciples  of  the 
prophets  in  the  prophetic  *  schools  '  or  '  guilds  ' 
were  not  all  prophets,  or  received  the  name  only 
in  courtesy.  The  schools  might  prepare  a  congenial 
soil  for  the  spirit  of  prophecy  ;  but  the  call  was 
not  confined  to  the  members  of  these  fraternities. 
'  I  was  no  prophet,'  says  Amos,  '  neither  was  I  a 
prophet's  son ;  but  I  was  a  herdsman,  and  a  dresser 
of  sycamore-trees ;  and  Jehovah  took  me  from 
following  the  flock,  and  Jehovah  said  unto  me,  Go, 
prophesy  unto  my  people  Israel.'  8    The  prophet  to 

1  Deut.  xviii.  21,  22.  The  test  as  given  in  these  verses  is  a  negative 
one :  '  How  shall  we  know  the  word  which  Jehovah  hath  not  spoken  ? ' 
Non-fulfilment  was  a  test  of  false  prophecy ;  but,  if  the  prophet 
preached  idolatry,  even  fulfilment,  or  miracle,  could  not  authenticate 
his  word  (Deut.  xiii.  1-3). 

a  Is.  xxxiv.  16 ;  xli.  21  ff.  ;  xlii.  9 ;  xliii.  9. 

*  Ex.  iii.  11  ff.  4i  Sam.  ii.  4  ff.  «  Amos  vii.  14  ff. 

•  Is.  vi.  1  Jer.  i.  4  ff.  «  Amos  vii.  14,  15. 


v.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  97 

whom  the  call  came  may  not  have  expected  or 
desired  it ;  on  the  contrary,  he  may  have  been 
conscious  of  his  utter  unfitness,  and  may  have 
resisted  it  till  he  felt  that  he  dare  not  resist  further. 
Jeremiah  is  a  case  in  point  here.1  With  the  call  in 
every  case  came  the  equipment  and  the  definite 
message  ;   the  prophet  was  supernaturally  endowed. 

IV.  Prediction  in  Prophecy. 

Discussion  has  gathered  in  an  especial  way  round 
the  element  of  prediction  in  Biblical  prophecy,  because 
here  is  an  element  in  which  the  presence  of  the 
supernatural  must  either  be  acknowledged,  or  the 
prophecy  itself  be  explained  away  or  denied. 

1.  There  can  be  little  question  as  to  the  claims  of 
the  prophets  to  utter  predictions  of  the  future  ;  and 
nearly  as  little  as  to  the  impossibility  of  explaining 
these  predictions,  on  the  assumption  of  their  genuine- 
ness, out  of  mere  natural  foresight.  The  method  is 
still  open  of  endeavouring  to  show  that  the  pre- 
dictions in  question  were  not  written  till  after 
the  event ;  are  late  additions  or  interpolations  ;  or, 
when  admitted  to  be  genuine,  that  they  were  not 
really  fulfilled.  Unfortunately,  the  chief  predictions, 
as,  e.g.,  those  of  Amos  of  the  approaching  Assyrian 
invasion,  and  Captivity  of  Israel ; 2  those  of  Hosea 
and  Isaiah  of  the  fall  of  Samaria  ; 3  Isaiah's  pre- 
diction of  the  deliverance  of  Jerusalem  from  Sen- 
nacherib ; 4  Jeremiah's  prophecy  of  the  seventy 
years'   captivity  and  subsequent  return,5  etc.,  are 

i  Jer.  i.  4  ff.  2  Amos  v.  27 ;  vii.  11,  17,  etc. 

3  Hos.  viii.,  etc.  ;  Is.  xxviii.,  etc. 

*  Is.  xxxvii.  26-36.  B  Jer.  xxv.  11,  12. 

G 


98  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

of  a  nature  which,  except  by  uncritical  violence, 
can  neither  be  expunged  from  the  text,  nor  got  rid 
of  as  unfulfilled.  They  stand  as  types  of  a  kind  of 
prediction  which  pervades  Biblical  prophecy  from 
beginning  to  end.  When  it  is  objected  that  to 
introduce  supernatural  prediction  is  to  put  Hebrew 
prophecy  on  the  level  of  '  soothsaying,'  it  is  over- 
looked that  prediction,  in  the  prophets,  is  never 
brought  in  as  a  wonder  on  its  own  account,  but 
always  in  its  bearing  on  the  ends  of  God's  Kingdom.1 
It  is  never  a  mere  portent,  but  has  its  place  in  the 
unfolding  of  God's  purpose  for  the  world.  A 
peculiar  form  of  predictive  prophecy  is  the  Apocal- 
yptic, as  in  Daniel  and  the  Revelation  of  John,  in 
which  future  events  and  crises  in  the  history  of  God's 
Kingdom  are  set  forth  under  the  veil  of  symbol. 
Some  of  the  symbols  are  interpreted,  while  others 
remain  enigmatic.2 

2.  Of  chief  interest,  in  this  connection,  from  the 
Christian  standpoint,  is  the  long  series  of  predictions, 
which  helped  to  create  the  expectation  of  the 
Messiah  and  of  His  future  Kingdom — Messianic 
prophecy,  as  it  is  wont  to  be  termed.  This  line  of 
prophecy,  ranging  from  the  first  promise  in  Eden, 
through  the  promises  to  Abraham  and  those  of 
the  Mosaic  age,  the  prophecies  connecting  the 
future  King  with  the  tribe  of  Judah  and  the  house 
of  David,  the  promises  of  the  New  Covenant,  of  the 
gift  of  the  Spirit,  of  the  admission  of  the  Gentiles, 

1  On  this  point,  and  the  whole  question  of  predictive  prophecy,  see 
Problem  of  the  0.  T.,  pp.  454  ff. 

2  Apocalypse  in  Scripture  is  not  to  be  explained  out  of  current 
Jewish  apocalyptic  tendencies  ;  conversely,  Jewish  Apocalypse  is  to 
be  explained  from  the  Biblical  models. 


v.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  99 

to  the  great  culminating  prophecies  of  the  Servant  of 
Jehovah — humbled,  atoning,  yet  finally  triumphant 
— founds  the  expectation  of  a  perfect  Prophet, 
perfect  Priest,  and  perfect  King — One  whose  Per- 
sonality, as  in  the  Immanuel  prophecy,1  breaks  the 
bounds  of  mere  humanity,  and  only  finds  its  fulfil- 
ment in  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testament. 


V.  Interpretation  of  Prophecy. 

1.  Difficulties,  naturally,  often  of  no  small  magni- 
tude, arise  in  connection  with  the  interpretation  of 
a  body  of  prophecy  so  vast,  complex,  and  sometimes 
obscure,  as  that  transmitted  to  us  in  the  books  of 
the  Old  Covenant.  Here  also  arise  questions  of  date, 
authorship,  text, — such  questions,  e.g.,  as  to  how  far 
Is.  xl.-lxvi.  is  a  work  of  the  exile,  or  is  itself  composite, 
or  is,  to  a  greater  extent  than  modern  scholars  are 
willing  to  recognise,  the  work  of  Isaiah  himself  ;  2  or 
whether  Daniel,  in  its  present  form,  or  entirely,  is 
a  work  of  the  Maccabean  age.  These  critical 
questions  cannot  be  gone  into  here.  The  solution 
of  the  difficulties  of  interpretation  are  mostly  to  be 
sought  for  in  a  closer  examination  of  the  peculiarities 
of  prophecy  itself  : — in  observation  of  the  ideal 
element  which  necessarily  enters  into  predictions 
of  the  more  distant  future;  of  the  inevitable 
clothing   of  the  representations  of  that   future   in 

1  Is.  vii.  14  ;  viii.  8  ;  ix.  6,  7. 

2  It  is  not  always  considered  that,  as  shown  by  Jer.  xxvi.  17-19, 
there  was  an  expectation  and  prediction  of  a  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
and  captivity  of  the  people  to  Babylon,  in  the  days  of  Isaiah  and 
Micah  (Mic.  iii.  12;  iv.  10;  Is.  vi.  11,  12;  xxxix.  6,  7),  though  on 
account  of  the  repentance  of  king  and  people,  as  Jeremiah  tells,  the 
judgment  was  postponed. 


100  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

forms  borrowed  from  the  present ;  of  the  lack  of 
perspective  in  the  grouping  together  of  events  of  the 
consummation ;  and,  not  least,  of  the  conditional 
element  in  prophecy,  leaving  room  for  change  in 
the  mode  of  fulfilment  under  altered  conditions.1 
The  one  thing  ever  certain  to  the  prophet's  mind  is 
the  consummation  itself  of  the  future  Kingdom  of 
God — the  shattering  of  all  earthly  opposition  to 
God's  purposes,  and  realisation  of  the  divine  will 
in  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  ! 

2.  A  word  may  be  said  here  on  a  question  already 
raised  :  How  far  a  visionary  element  enters  into 
prophetic  descriptions  which  do  not,  on  their  face, 
bear  this  character  ?  The  principle  of  vision  has 
sometimes,  perhaps,  been  carried  to  an  extreme, 
as  when,  e.g.,  Hosea's  marriage  to  Gomer  has  been 
translated  into  a  visionary  transaction.2  But  other 
sections  of  prophecy,  into  which,  as  here,  no  moral 
problem  enters,  force  the  question  upon  us.  Such 
instances,  e.g.,  as  Jeremiah's  long  journey  to  the 
Euphrates  to  hide  his  girdle,  and  his  second  journey, 
after  many  days,  to  recover  it ;  3  Isaiah's  walking 
'  naked  and  barefoot '  for  three  years  for  a  sign  and 
wonder  concerning  Egypt ;  4  Ezekiel's  lying  on  his 
side  for  three  hundred  and  ninety  days  before  the 
drawing  of  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  on  a  tile,5  etc. 
There  are  difficulties  on  any  view  ;  but  the  literal 
interpretation  of  these  commands  almost  involves 
incredibilities.     Those  scholars  who  find  it  natural 

1  These  points  are  treated  of  in  Prob.  of  0.  T.,  pp.  460  ff.  Cf. 
Orelli,  op.  cit.,  pp.  50  ff.  2  Thus  Hengstenberg,  Keil,  etc. 

3  Jer.  xiii.  1-11.  *  Is.  xx. 

5  Ezek.  iv.  1-18.  On  this  class  of  transactions  generally,  cf.  P. 
Fairbairn,  Prophecy,  pp.  124  ff.,  and  his  Appendix,  pp.  508  ff. 


v.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  101 

to  place  a  parabolic  interpretation  on  Jonah's 
'  three  days  and  three  nights '  in  the  belly  of  the 
fish,  should  hardly  shrink  from  granting  that  the 
conditions  in  the  foregoing  instances  are  satisfied 
by  a  transaction  in  vision. 

VI.  Difficulties  in  Old  Testament  Revelation. 

It  will  be  proper,  before  leaving  the  subject  of 
revelation  in  the  Old  Testament,  to  glance  briefly 
at  the  difficulties  which  undoubtedly  arise  in  the 
consideration   of   this   revelation,   especially   in   its 
relation   to    the   teaching   of   the   New  Testament. 
The  class  of  difficulties  in  view  are  not  those  con- 
nected with    miracle — these  will  be  dealt  with   in 
another    chapter — or  those   arising  from  supposed 
conflicts  of  the  Bible  with  science.     The  latter  give 
little  concern,  once  it  is  recognised  that  the  Bible  is 
not  a  text-book  of  physical  science,  anticipatory  of  the 
discoveries  of  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  centuries. 
Few  people  are  any  longer  disturbed  by  the  accept- 
ance of  the  Copernican  theory  of  the  heavens,  or  the 
knowledge  of  the  long  duration  of  the  ages  of  geology  ; 
the  theory  of  evolution,  now  commonly  accepted 
in    principle,   has    undergone    modifications   which 
remove  most  of  the  aspects  of  conflict  between  it 
and  the  theistic  and  Christian  view  of  the  world  ; 
the   older   statements   made   as   to    the   enormous 
antiquity    and    primitive    barbarism    of    man,    are 
undergoing     considerable     revision ;       while      the 
scriptural  (rather  the  Ussherian)  chronology  is,  on  its 
side,  discovered  to  need,  and  to  admit  of,  a  corre- 
sponding extension.     It  will  be  difficult  for  any  one 
to  show  that  the  ideas  about  God,  man's  sin,  man's 


"102  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

need,  the  dependence  of  the  world  on  God  as  its 
Creator  and  Ruler,  contained  in  the  Bible,  are  in 
any  real  conflict  with  what  a  sober  science  teaches.1 

1.  The  difficulties  intended  are  those  inherent 
in  the  revelation  itself  which  may  be  thought  to 
stamp  it  as  something  inferior,  and  unworthy  of  the 
God  of  the  New  Testament.  Among  these  may  be 
named  the  primitive  and  naive  conceptions  of  God 
and  His  actions  found  especially  in  the  earlier 
portions  of  the  Bible  (anthropomorphisms,  as  God 
'  coming  down '  to  see,  repenting,  etc.) ;  the  defec- 
tive morality  of  Biblical  characters  {e.g.,  Jacob, 
Samson,  David)  ;  the  sanction  given  to  such 
institutions  as  polygamy,  divorce,  blood-revenge, 
slavery,  which  the  Christian  conscience  condemns ; 
chiefly,  perhaps,  the  severity  of  the  codes  of  justice, 
the  commands  for  the  extermination  of  whole  tribes 
and  peoples  (Amalekites,  Canaanites),  acts  like  the 
hewing  of  Agag  in  pieces  before  the  Lord.  The  old 
Gnostics,  founding  on  these  and  like  imperfections 
in  the  Old  Testament  revelation,  boldly  ascribed 
the  whole  to  an  inferior  Deity — the  Demiurge. 
Bishop  Butler,  in  modern  times,  would  urge  our 
ignorance  of  the  scheme  of  revelation  as  a  whole, 
and  point  to  analogies  in  God's  natural  government, 
raising  similar  difficulties. 

2.  Several  of  the  above-named  difficulties  seem 
adequately  met  by  appeal  to  the  idea  of  progress 
in  revelation — an  idea  to  which  Butler  in  his  Analogy 
does  not  do  the  justice  it  demands.  Revelation  is 
not  complete  all  at  once.  If  the  light  with  which 
it  starts  is  dim,  it  grows  clearer  as  the  ages  advance. 

1  See  more  fully  in  the  author's  Bible  Under  Trial,  ch.  ix.,  'Op- 
positions of  Science,'  and  God's  Image  in  Man ;  also  below,  p.  168. 


v.]  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  103 

The  world  into  which  it  comes  is  one  deeply  sunk 
in  sin,  and  in  the  evils  which  sin  brings  with  it. 
Revelation  has  to  take  up  man  as  it  finds  him, 
with  his  crude  conceptions,  his  childlike  modes  of 
thought  and  expression,  his  defective  moral  ideas 
and  social  institutions,  and  has  to  make  the  best  of 
him  it  can.  Imperfect  conditions  have  to  be  borne 
with  for  the  time,  while  germs  of  truth  and 
principles  are  implanted  which,  in  their  development, 
gradually  throw  off  the  defective  forms,  and  evolve 
higher. 

In  no  other  way,  it  should  be  evident,  could  God 
carry  on  the  government  of  the  world.  In  no  other 
way,  even  yet,  can  Christian  nations  legislate  and 
act,  in  the  full  light  of  Christ's  teaching,  than  by 
patient  toleration  of  much  that  is  avowedly  defective 
and  sinful,  till  what  is  better  has  had  time  to  grow. 
The  wisdom  of  this  method  of  revelation  is  seen  in 
its  results.  Polygamy,  e.g.,  is  contradicted,  as  Jesus 
says,1  by  the  first  principles  of  the  Bible's  teaching 
on  man,  yet  had  to  be  tolerated  as  a  defective  social 
institution  till  higher  conceptions  could  be  evolved. 
But  by  Christ's  time  polygamy  had  nearly  dis- 
appeared. Divorce  was  tolerated,  we  are  told,  for 
the  hardness  of  the  people's  hearts,2  and  was  destined 
in  time  to  give  place  to  a  higher  law.  Blood-revenge 
was  checked  by  the  law  of  the  refuge-cities,  and 
gradually  died  out  with  the  growth  of  settled  order 
and  of  regular  legal  procedure.  Slavery  similarly 
was  counterworked  by  the  higher  ideas  of  man  in 
Israel's  religion,  and  the  generally  beneficent  spirit 
of  its  legislation,  and  in  Christ's  time  had  likewise 
largely  disappeared. 

i  Matt.  xix.  3-9.  «  Matt.  xix.  8. 


104  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

3.  A  very  real  difficulty  is  presented  in  the  un- 
sparing use  of  the  sword  in  war,  and  the  commanded 
extermination  of  whole  populations,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Canaanites.  Was  this  really  God's  command  ? 
Criticism  has  a  simple  and  plausible  way  of  dis- 
posing of  these  difficulties,  viz.,  by  denying  that 
they  belong  to  revelation  at  all.  The  writers  of  the 
Bible,  it  is  said,  attribute  to  Jehovah  their  own  de- 
fective, semi-barbarous  conceptions.  Hence  they 
unhesitatingly  ascribe  to  God  such  enormities  as 
the  slaughter  of  the  Canaanites,  or  the  hewing  in 
pieces  of  Agag.  The  fault  of  the  explanation  is 
that  it  seems  to  remove  the  foundations  of  the 
revelation  altogether ;  so  in  reality  creates  more 
difficulties  than  it  resolves.  For,  if  anything 
seems  clear  in  Bible  history,  it  is  that  the  action  of 
the  Israelites  in  taking  possession  of  Canaan,  and 
making  a  clearance  of  its  inhabitants,  was  not  the 
outcome  of  their  own  thoughts  or  designs — they 
are  blamed  for  not  doing  it  more  thoroughly — but 
was  the  result  of  direct  commands  of  God,  in  fulfil- 
ment of  His  promises  to  their  fathers.  There  is  not 
a  suggestion  anywhere,  in  Old  Testament  or  New, 
that  this  is  not  the  true  reading  of  events.1  What  is 
to  be  said  of  it  ? 

In  this  connection,  again,  the  progressiveness  of 
revelation  counts  for  something.  The  usages  and 
customs  of  ancient  warfare  are  to  be  remembered. 
It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  also  that  the  cases  of  the 
Canaanites,  and  of  other  tribes  and  individuals 
put  under  the  'ban,'  are  exceptional.  Exter- 
mination was  not  the  rule  in  Israelitish  warfare, 
though    generally    war,    even    internal    strife,    was 

i  Cf.  Acts  vii.  4,  5 ;  xiii.  19. 


v.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  105 

fierce  enough.  The  laws  of  warfare  are  humane 
and  merciful  compared  with  those  of  other  nations.1 
They  give  no  sanction  whatever  to  the  frightful 
tortures — the  impalings,  Sayings,  blindings,  muti- 
lations— depicted  on  Assyrian  and  Babylonian 
monuments.  But  chiefly,  extermination,  where 
commanded,  has  always  an  ethical  reason.  If  the 
Canaanites  were  condemned,  it  was  because,  after 
long  patience  of  God,  the  cup  of  their  iniquities  was 
full  to  overflowing.2  'After  all,'  says  Ottley, 
quoting  Westcott,  '  the  Canaanites  were  put  under 
the  ban,  "  not  for  false  belief,  but  for  vile  actions."  '  3 
Nor  was  there  any  partiality  in  this.  To  quote 
what  has  been  said  elsewhere  :  '  The  sword  of  the 
Israelite  is,  after  all,  only  a  more  acute  form  of  the 
problem  that  meets  us  in  the  providential  employ- 
ment of  the  sword  of  the  Assyrian,  the  Chaldean, 
and  the  Roman,  to  inflict  the  judgment  of  God  on 
Israel  itself.'  4 

VII.  Wider  Considerations. 

1.  The  question  may  be  looked  at  in  a  wider  light. 
The  whole  spirit  of  the  Old  Covenant  is,  on  the 
judicial  side,  in  comparison  with  the  New,  one  of 
marked  severity.  It  was  an  economy  in  which 
'  every  transgression  and  disobedience  received  a 
just  recompense  of  reward.'  5  Yet  it  is  a  mistake 
not  to  recognise  that  an  awful  severity,  as  well  as  a 
long-suffering  goodness,  belongs  to  the  God  of  the 
New  Testament  also.  If  law  veils  grace  in  the  old 
economy,  grace  must  not  be  permitted  to  blind  us 

1  Cf.  Deut.  xii.  *  Gen.  xv.  16 ;  Lev.  viii.  24-30. 

*  Aspects  of  the  0.  T.,  p.  179.         *  Prob.  of  0.  T.,  pp.  471-2. 
»  Heb.  ii.  2. 


106  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

to  the  sternness  of  God's  holiness  under  the  Gospel. 
God  is  still  '  the  Judge,' 1  and  very  terrible  are  the 
words  used  of  His  judgments  on  evil-doers  who 
resist  His  mercy.  '  The  day  of  wrath  and  revela- 
tion of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God  .  .  .  wrath 
and  indignation,  tribulation  and  anguish,  upon 
every  soul  of  man  that  worketh  evil.' 2  Jesus  is  the 
revelation  of  the  love  of  God ;  but  what  terrible 
words  of  doom  fall  sometimes  from  His  lips.3  The 
God  of  the  Christian  revelation,  we  early  discover, 
is  not  a  God  who  cannot  both  look  upon  and  do 
things  very  terrible.  '  He  that  spared  not  His  own 
Son,  but  delivered  Him  up  [to  a  cross]  for  us  all.'  4 

2.  To  this  also,  so  far  to  apply  Butler's  argument, 
corresponds  the  revelation  of  God  in  nature.  If  we 
are  not  to  fall  into  dualism,  it  is  the  same  God  whom 
Christ  revealed  who  must  be  acknowledged  to  work 
and  rule  in  the  natural  creation.  But  what  terrible 
things — famines,  blights,  pestilences,  the  sweeping 
away  of  whole  populations  by  earthquake,  fire, 
flood — are  to  be  witnessed  there  ?  Or  in  providence, 
— what  permission  of  tyranny,  crime,  oppression, 
where  a  word,  it  might  be  thought,  would  smite  the 
oppressor  in  the  dust  ?  Yet  God  is  silent.  These 
are  the  enigmas  of  God's  natural  government.  Is 
anything  in  the  Old  Testament  harder  ? 

3.  The  argument  of  Butler  may  be  applied  with 
even  enhanced  force  to  the  '  modern '  objector  who 
declaims  against  the  character  and  commands  of  the 
God  of  the  Old  Testament.  It  changes  the  form  of 
the  problem,  but  does  not  alter  the  essence  of  it,  if, 

i  1  Pet.  i.  17.  3  Rom.  ii.  5-9. 

3  Matt.  xiii.  41-2 ;  xxiv.  50-1 ;  xxv.  41,  46 ;  Luke  xix.  27,  etc. 

4  Roni.  viii.  32. 


v.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  107 

with  the  modern  school,  for  '  revelation '  we  use 
the  word  '  evolution.'  What  is  the  Power  behind 
evolution  ?  God.  But  who  is  to  interpret  God  to 
us  for  the  purposes  of  religion  ?  If  Professor 
Bousset,  in  his  What  is  Religion  ?,  or  Professor  G.  B. 
Foster,  in  his  Finality  of  the  Christian  Religion,  are  to 
be  trusted,  it  is  Jesus.  Here  are  Bousset's  words  ; 
'  We  hold  fast  with  all  our  power  to  the  faith  of  the 
Gospel  in  a  personal,  heavenly  Father.  .  .  .  We 
lift  our  hands  in  prayer  and  say,  "  Our  Father  in 
Heaven "...  All  this ;  God  the  Father,  life  in 
accordance  with  His  will  spent  in  Joyful  work  for  the 
service  of  the  world,  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  eternal 
hope — all  this  hangs  together,  and  is  crystallised  in 
perfect  clearness  in  the  Person  of  our  Lord  Jesus.' l 

But  see  now  the  picture  which  is  given  us  of  this 
God  in  nature,  history,  and  religion. 

In  nature  : — '  We  carry  this  idea  of  faith  into  our 
modern  knowledge,  into  our  representation  of  God. 
.  .  .  God  is  to  us  the  Eternal,  the  All-Powerful 
One,  who  is  potent  in  the  vast,  starry  world  and  in 
the  eternities  of  time  and  space,  before  which 
thought  grows  dizzy — potent  alike  in  the  eternally 
insignificant  things  and  in  the  eternally  great  things. 
He  is  the  God  whose  garment  is  the  iron  law  of 
Nature,  which  hides  Him  from  human  eyes  in  a 
thick  husk  which  cannot  be  torn  off  ;  who,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  terrible  law  of  the  struggle  for  existence, 
leads  His  creatures  upwards  into  a  world  of  moral, 
individual  freedom ;  who  surrounds  us  with  His 
existence  as  with  a  dizzy  abyss.  And  clinging  to 
the  hand  of  Jesus  we  venture  to  plunge  into  the 
abyss.'  2 

i  Op.  ciL,  pp.  294-5,  298.  *  p.  294. 


108  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

In  religion  : — Man  begins,  as  we  saw,  as  a  savage, 
with  hideous  rites  of  immolation,  human  sacrifice, 
cannibalism ;  he  mounts  upwards  through  low 
stages  of  society  (the  matriarchate,  totemism,  poly- 
gamy) to  tribal  and  national  unions,  still  with 
lustful  and  cruel  rites,  blood-revenge,  and  multiplied 
abominations ;  wars  and  exterminations  have  their 
place  ;  everything  objected  to  in  the  Old  Testament, 
in  short,  reappears  as  part  of  the  necessary  develop- 
ment. 

Is  the  case  much  mended  ?  How  is  the  responsi- 
bility to  be  lifted  from  the  God  of  Jesus  into  whose 
plan  all  this  enters  ?  How  are  the  difficulties — the 
contradictions — to  be  got  over  ?  Is  the  problem 
not  rather  a  hundredfold  intensified  ?  For  every- 
thing, immoral  as  it  is,  is  now  stamped  with  the 
print  of  Necessity,  and  made  to  be  of  divine  origin 
as  it  never  was  before.  Is  the  God  who  leads  his 
moral  creatures  upwards  through  all  this  welter 
of  evil,  'in  accordance  with  the  terrible  law  of  the 
struggle  of  existence,'  one  whit  easier  to  accept 
than  the  holy  God  of  Abraham,  Moses,  and  the 
prophets — even  with  His  awful  retributory  judg- 
ments— in  whom  Jesus  Himself  believed  ?  Is  a 
blind  plunge  into  an  abyss  with  a  faith  which  in- 
volves a  moral  contradiction,  a  reasonable  solution  ? 
Why  then  is  no  element  of  faith  in  presence  of  an 
inscrutable  Holiness,  many  of  whose  ways  elude 
our  judgment,  permitted  in  the  other  case  ?  The 
question  is  one  which,  even  from  the  '  modern  * 
point  of  view,  deserves  consideration. 


vi.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  109 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  ELEMENT   OF  MIRACLE   IN   REVELATION 

It  was  seen  at  the  commencement  that  it  is  deemed 
by  many  modern  thinkers  a  sufficient  reason  for 
ruling  out  of  consideration  the  question  of  super- 
natural revelation  that  it  involves  the  element  of 
miracle.  In  strictness,  therefore,  it  might  appear 
that  the  question  of  the  possibility  of  special  or 
supernatural  revelation  should  have  preceded  the 
discussion  of  the  fact  of  such  revelation.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  the  fact  is  proved,  this  already  disposes 
of  many  objections  that  may  be  taken  to  miracle 
on  the  grounds  of  abstract  possibility  or  probability. 
The  theoretic  objection  to  miracle  can  have  little 
force  to  minds  already  convinced  of  the  existence 
and  agency  of  a  living,  personal  God,  actuated  by 
love  to  man,  and  desirous  of  bestowing  on  him  the 
maximum  of  blessing.  It  was  seen  that  it  belongs 
to  the  very  idea  of  God,  in  the  full  theistic  view,  to 
think  of  Him  as  self-revealing.  And  revelation  is 
only  complete  when  it  becomes  personal  and  special. 
It  is  necessary  now,  however,  that  the  miraculous 
element  in  revelation  should  be  dealt  with  as  a 
question  by  itself.  General  objections  to  miracle 
will  be  considered,  but  special  attention  will  be 
given  to  the  place  and  reasonableness  of  miracle 
as  a  factor  in  revelation. 


110  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

I.  Definition  of  Miracle. 

1.  For  the  sake  of  clearness,  a  distinction  should 
be  made  between  what  may  be  called  the  scientific 
idea  of  miracle,  and  the  Biblical  or  religious  idea. 
In  science,  as  in  philosophy,  miracle  is  denned  with 
relation  to  the  idea  of  natural  law,  or  of  a  fixed  order 
of  nature,  of  which  miracle  then  appears  as  an 
interruption.  In  the  Biblical  idea,  a  miracle  is 
likewise  an  extraordinary  event,  evincing  the 
immediate  presence  and  operation  of  God,  but  it  is 
measured  rather  by  the  impression  it  makes  upon 
the  mind,  and  by  its  relation  to  the  ends  of  revelation, 
than  by  its  relation  to  the  natural  order.  It  is  an 
exaggeration,  indeed,  to  say,  as  is  sometimes  done, 
that  the  Hebrews  had  no  idea  of  an  order  in  nature, 
and  therefore  felt  no  difficulty  in  conceiving  of  any 
number  of  miracles.  There  is  no  people  on  earth, 
beyond  the  most  childlike  stage,  that  has  not  some 
idea  of  the  difference  between  ordinary  and  extra- 
ordinary events ;  and  the  Hebrews,  with  their  faith 
in  the  creation  and  ordering  of  the  world  by  God, 
had  that  idea  in  an  unusually  high  degree.  God  had 
established  the  world  by  His  word  ;  had  set  bounds 
to  sea  and  land  by  His  decree  ;  had  ordained  that 
seed-time  and  harvest,  cold  and  heat,  should  not 
cease  ;  had  given  measure  and  order  to  all  things 
by  His  wisdom.1  Still,  it  is  the  case  that  the  idea 
of  natural  law,  as  now  understood,  was  not  possessed 
by  the  ancients,  and  that  the  Hebrews  did  not 
measure  miracle  by  relation  to  this  idea  as  moderns 
do.     The  essential  thing  in  miracle  was  that  there 

i  Cf.  Gen.  i.  14;  viii.  22;  Ps.  xxxiii.  6-9;  cxix.  90-1;  Prov.  viii. 
29 ;  Is.  xl.  12,  etc. 


vi.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  111 

should  be  some  plain  and  remarkable  interposition 
of  God  for  a  holy  end — say,  for  the  help  of  His 
people,  or  the  judgment  of  His  enemies ;  and 
the  question  of  how  these  extraordinary  events 
were  related  to  what  we  should  call  *  secondary 
causes,'  or  '  laws  of  nature '  did  not  enter  into 
consideration.  Suppose  it  could  be  shown  that  any 
of  these  exceptional  events,  as,  e.g.,  the  crossing  of 
the  Red  Sea,  were  naturally  mediated,  this  would 
not  in  the  slightest  degree  alter  its  character  as 
miracle  in  the  Biblical  sense  of  that  word.  The 
fact  that  it  happened  then  and  there,  in  connection 
with  a  revealed  purpose,  or  by  divine  command, 
sufficed  to  guarantee  its  character  as  a  divine  inter- 
position. 

This  Biblical  idea  of  miracle  is  illustrated  by  the 
terms  used  to  describe  these  extraordinary  events 
in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  One  class  of 
terms    brings   out    the  unusual,    exceptional,    and 

striking  character  of  the  works  (Heb.  S7B  ,     ni&OM  ; 

Gr.  repara)  ;  another  lays  stress  on  the  power  dis- 
played in  them  (Heb.  nnns  ?  niTQa ;  Gr.  Swa^ecs ; 
a  third  gives  prominence  to  their  teleological  signifi- 
cance— their  character  as  '  signs  '  (Heb.  niK  ;  Gr. 
crvfiela).  Alongside  of  these  are  terms  which  de- 
scribe them  simply  as  '  works '  (Heb.  D^fewp  or  rriWy  ; 
Gr.  epya).  It  is  the  purposeful  element  which  dis- 
tinguishes the  Biblical  miracle  from  a  mere  portent 
or  prodigy. 

2.  Miracle,  in  the  scientific  sense,  as  above  re- 
marked, is  concerned  with  the  relation  to  natural 
law.  By  miracle,  in  this  connection,  in  distinction 
from  the  general  idea  of  the  supernatural,  is  to  be 


112  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

understood  any  real  (not  simply  apparent)  devia- 
tion from,  or  transcendence  of,  the  ordinary  course 
of  nature,  due  to  the  interposition  of  a  super- 
natural cause.  The  definition  of  miracle,  with 
Hume  and  others,  as  a  '  violation  '  of  the  laws  of 
nature,  is  a  question-begging  and  objectionable  one. 
It  suggests  a  sanctity  belonging  to  the  usual  order 
of  nature  which  is  by  no  means  to  be  attributed  to 
it,  and  precludes  the  view  that  nature  itself,  in  the 
divine  purpose,  may  be  subordinate  to  a  higher 
spiritual  order,  whose  ends  call  for  an  action  of  God 
above  and  beyond  what  nature  is  capable  of.  In 
nature  itself  one  law  crosses  and  modifies  the  action 
of  another,  and  higher  laws  suspend  or  control  the 
action  of  lower.  Mechanical  laws  are  over-ruled 
by  chemical  and  vital.  Gravitation  is  counteracted 
by  the  raising  of  the  arm  in  obedience  to  an  act  of 
will.  But  nothing  in  nature  is  '  violated  '  thereby. 
The  whole  system  of  nature,  in  its  reciprocal  rela- 
tions, is  a  unity,  and  all,  in  the  last  resort,  depends 
on  God,  whose  will,  guided  by  His  wisdom,  is  the 
ultimate  law — the  law  of  all  laws,  cause  in  all  causes. 


II.  Possibility  of  Miracle. 

1.  It  has  just  been  observed  that  the  abstract 
possibility  of  such  divine  interpositions  as  are 
alleged  in  miracle  can  scarcely  be  challenged  by 
any  one  who  admits  the  existence  of  the  living, 
personal  God.  There  are  systems  of  the  universe — 
atheistic,  pantheistic,  monistic,  deistic — which,  in 
their  very  nature,  exclude  miracle.  Theism,  if  of  a 
genuine  and  vital  kind,   as  it  is  in  the  Christian 


vi.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  113 

religion,  creates  even  a  presumption  in  its  favour. 
For,  as  was  formerly  argued,  a  living,  loving,  personal 
God,  can  hardly  do  other  than  desire  a  more 
immediate  fellowship  with  man  than  is  provided 
for  in  the  impersonal  system  of  nature.  Accordingly, 
in  the  region  of  the  spirit — that  with  which  revela- 
tion is  chiefly  concerned — large  admissions  are 
sometimes  made  by  those  who  would  dispute  the 
occurrence  of  miracle  in  physical  nature.  Man's 
spirit  is  spoken  of  as  open  to  immediate  divine 
influences  ;  God  is  described  as  entering  into  direct 
communion  of  spirit  with  man.  *  How,'  asks  Dr. 
Martineau,  in  one  place,  '  should  related  spirits, 
joined  by  a  common  creative  aim,  intent  on  what- 
ever things  are  pure  and  good,  live  in  presence  of 
each  other,  the  one  the  bestower,  the  other  the 
recipient  of  a  sacred  trust,  and  exchange  no  thought 
and  give  no  sign  of  the  love  which  subsists  between 
them  ?  '  1  Similarly  Pfleiderer,  '  Why  should  it  be 
less  possible  for  God  to  enter  into  a  loving  fellowship 
with  us,  than  for  men  to  do  so  with  each  other  ? 
I  should  be  inclined  to  think  that  He  is  even  more 
capable  of  doing  so.  For  as  no  man  can  altogether 
read  the  soul  of  another,  so  no  man  can  altogether 
live  in  the  soul  of  another  ;  hence  all  our  human 
love  is  and  remains  imperfect.  But  if  we  are  shut 
off  from  one  another  by  the  limits  of  individuality, 
in  relation  to  God  it  is  not  so  ;  to  Him  our  hearts 
are  as  open  as  each  man's  heart  is  to  himself ;  He 
sees  through  and  through  them,  and  He  desires  to 
live  in  them,  and  to  fill  them  with  His  own  energy  and 
blessedness.' 2    But,  if  this  be  so,  what  becomes  of 

1  Study  of  Religion,  ii.  p.  48. 

•  Philosophy  of  Religion  (E.T.),  iii.  p.  305. 

H 


114  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

the  argument  against  the  possibility  of  supernatural 
revelation  ? 

2.  In  Biblical  revelation,  however,  miracle  enters 
into  the  'physical,  as  well  as  into  the  spiritual,  sphere, 
and  it  is  here  that  the  objection  to  its  admission 
is  pressed  at  its  keenest.  '  The  uniformity  of 
nature,'  as  science  has  established  it,  is  urged  as  an 
insuperable  objection  to  the  admission  of  physical 
miracle.  The  chain  of  causes  and  effects  in  the 
natural  system  cannot,  it  is  alleged,  at  any  point 
be  broken.  Even  granting  the  abstract  possibility 
of  miracle,  the  difficulties  of  proof  are  held  to  be 
so  great  that  no  miracle,  supposing  one  to  happen, 
can  ever  be  satisfactorily  established  by  evidence. 
The  preponderant  presumption  must  always  be 
against  it.  On  the  historical  side,  the  evidence  for 
miracle  in  the  Bible  is  declared  hopelessly  to  break 
down  on  critical  examination.  On  this  threefold 
ground  of  possibility,  credibility,  historicity,  the  mir- 
acles of  Scripture  are  pronounced  to  be  discredited. 
But  this  verdict  may  very  reasonably  be  challenged. 

III.  Miracle  and  Law. 

1.  It  must  have  been  with  some  sense  of  the 
irony  of  his  own  argument  that  an  acute  reasoner 
like  Hume  laid  down  the  position  that  '  a  miracle 
is  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature,  and  as  a  firm 
and  unalterable  experience  has  established  these 
laws,  the  proof  against  a  miracle,  from  the  nature 
of  the  fact,  is  as  entire  as  any  argument  from  ex- 
perience can  possibly  be  imagined.'  Again  :  '  It  is 
a  miracle  that  a  dead  man  should  come  to  life, 
because  that  has  never  been  observed  in  any  age  or 


vi.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  115 

country.'  *  It  may  be  remarked  in  passing  that,  if 
the  establishing  of  laws  of  nature  depended,  as 
Hume  supposes,  on  proof  of  '  a  firm  and  unalter- 
able ' — that  is,  a  universal — '  experience,'  no  law  of 
nature  could  ever  be  made  good.  For  such  a 
universal  induction  is,  in  strictness,  impossible. 
Laws  of  nature,  in  reality,  are  usually  established 
by  a  comparatively  small  number  of  experiments, 
skilfully  conducted,  and  verified  by  repetition.  The 
(general)  uniformity  of  nature  is  the  postulate  of, 
rather  than  the  conclusion  from,  such  experiments. 
But  taking  Hume's  proposition  as  it  stands,  how 
glaring  is  the  petitio  principii  involved  in  it !  How 
is  it  made  out  that  '  a  firm  and  unalterable 
experience '  has  established  that  there  are  no 
exceptions  to  the  ordinary  course  of  nature  ?  For 
this  the  proposition  must  mean  if  it  is  to  have  any 
validity  as  argument.  Only  by  first  ruling  out  all 
testimony  to  a  contrary  experience.  A  dead  man 
cannot  rise  to  life,  because  this  has  never  been 
observed  in  any  age  or  country.  But  has  it  not  ? 
This  is  the  very  thing  to  be  proved.  Hume  assumes 
in  his  general  proposition  that  no  one  has  ever  had 
experience  of  a  miracle,  then  adduces  this  as  proof 
that  miracles  have  never  happened  ! 

2.  Not  a  few  in  recent  times  endeavour  tc  remove 
the  difficulty  attaching  to  the  idea  of  miracle  as 
contravention  of  nature  by  the  hypothesis  that 
miracles — the  greatest  included — are  simply  ex- 
ceptions to  what  is  known  of  the  order  of  nature, 
and  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  action  of  unknown 
powers  or  laws  of  nature.2    There  need  be  no  hesita- 

1  Essay  on  Miracles. 

*  Cf.  Dr.  Sanday,  The  Life  of  Christ  in  Recent  Research,  ch.  viii. 


116  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

tion  in  admitting  that  much  that  belongs  to  the 
category  of  miracle  in  Scripture  may  possibly  be 
thus  explained.  There  is  an  '  economy  '  in  miracle. 
Natural  agencies  are  used  as  far  as  they  will  go.1 
But  as  a  general  theory  of  miracle  this  hypothesis 
labours  under  two  obvious  defects.  (1)  It  can 
never  be  proved,  and  is  in  itself  highly  improbable, 
that  the  more  signal  exercises  of  miraculous  power — 
e.g.,  Christ's  instantaneous  cleansing  of  the  leper,  or 
raising  of  the  dead,  or  His  own  resurrection — are 
simply  adaptation  of  laws  and  forces  already  residing 
in  nature ;  and  (2)  the  theory  does  not  dispense  with 
a  supernatural  summoning  into  action  and  wielding 
of  these  hidden  powers  on  a  definite  occasion  and 
for  a  definite  end.  The  miracle  is  not  a  spontaneous 
production  of  nature's  laws ;  God's  will  is  still 
involved  in  the  wonder  being  wrought.  A  word 
is  spoken,  a  command  is  given,  God's  interposition 
is  invoked,  and  the  marvel  follows.  It  is  in  the 
divine  interposition,  whatever  the  mediate  agencies 
employed,  that  the  essence  of  the  miracle  lies. 

IV.  Credibility  of  Miracle. 

1.  A  stronger  position  is  taken  up  when  objection 
is  based,  not  on  the  general  possibility  of  miracle, 
but  on  the  credibility  of  the  testimony  by  which  the 
miracle  is  supported.  It  is  unquestionable  that,  in 
the  ordinary  conduct  of  life,  suspicion  attaches  to 
all  narratives  of  supernatural,  or  even  of  very 
extraordinary,  events.  The  presumption  against  a 
miracle  is  always  strong  ;    human  testimony,  where 

i  In  the  flood,  the  destruction  of  Sodom,  the  strong  wind  at  the 
crossing  of  the  Red  Sea,  etc. 


vi.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  117 

marvels  are  concerned,  is  notoriously  fallible.  How 
then,  Hume  plausibly  argues,  can  the  one  ever  be 
successfully  weighed  against  the  other  ?  Is  it  not 
always  more  likely,  even  where  the  witnesses  are 
entirely  honest,  that  a  mistake  has  occurred,  than 
that  a  real  miracle  has  happened  ?  As  against  this, 
it  is  to  be  remembered,  generally,  that  the  bulk  of  all 
our  knowledge,  ordinary  and  extraordinary  alike, 
rests  on  testimony.  It  has  often  been  pointed  out 
that,  with  the  exception  of  the  fractional  part  of 
experience  which  belongs  to  ourselves,  this  is  true 
even  of  Hume's  '  firm  and  unalterable  experience.' 
The  experience  of  others  is  known  to  us  only  through 
testimony.  '  Experience  '  and  '  testimony,'  there- 
fore, cannot  in  this  ^discriminating  way  be  pitted 
against  each  other.  There  is  a  natural  instinct 
leading  us  to  believe  in  testimony,  and,  after  all 
deductions,  testimony  is  more  often  true  than  false. 
General  distrust  of  testimony  would  bring  human 
existence  to  an  end. 

2.  Judgment,  therefore,  must  be  applied  to  the 
testimony  to  miracle,  as  to  other  things,  and  when 
this  is  done,  and  a  'priori  assumptions  are  discarded, 
it  becomes  apparent  that  testimony  to  miracle  may 
be,  and  in  given  circumstances  is,  perfectly 
admissible.  To  adduce  as  instances  of  miracle 
such  absurdities  as  '  a  pen  turned  into  a  pen- wiper,' x 
or  a  *  centaur  trotting  down  the  street,'  2  is  to  play 
with  the  subject.  Miracles,  every  one  feels,  are  not 
to  be  looked  for  in  ordinary  experience.  The 
report,  therefore,  of  a  casual,  unconnected  wonder, 
as  that  a  dead  person  had  come  to  life  in  an 
adjoining  town  or  parish,  would  be  justly  received 

*  Matthew  Arnold.  2  Huxley. 


118  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

with  incredulity,  or,  if  well  attested,  a  natural 
explanation  would  be  sought  for  it.  Let,  however, 
the  question  be  put  — Is  a  miracle  equally  incredible, 
if  occurring  as  part  of,  or  in  connection  with,  a 
general  scheme  of  divine  revelation  (itself  super- 
natural in  character),  or  for  some  solemn  or 
important  end  of  God's  Kingdom,  or  in  connection 
with  persons  well- accredited  as  bearers  of  a  divine 
message  to  mankind  ? — few  persons,  unwarped  by 
philosophical  theory,  will  feel  that  they  are  entitled 
to  answer  with  the  same  confidence.  They  will 
decline  to  dogmatise,  and  will  ask  that  the  evidence 
be  produced,  and  the  case  put  before  them  in  all  its 
bearings. 

This,  it  must  be  urged,  is  the  only  reasonable 
attitude  to  take  up  in  relation  to  the  miracles 
connected  with  divine  revelation  in  the  Bible.  It 
is  not  enough  to  say  with  Hume  that  the  presump- 
tion against  a  miracle  must  always  be  greater  than 
the  presumption  in  its  favour.  The  circumstances 
must  be  looked  at.  It  is  conceivable  that  the 
circumstances  may  be  such  that  there  is  not  only 
no  antecedent  presumption  against  the  miracle, 
but  a  strong  presumption  for  it.  Given,  e.g.,  such  a 
Person  as  Jesus  Christ  by  His  whole  manifestation 
shows  Himself  to  be,  and  miracles,  including  that 
of  His  own  resurrection  from  the  dead,  become 
not  simply  credible,  but  natural.  It  may  be  easier 
to  believe  that  such  an  One  rose  from  the  dead, 
than  that  death  continued  to  hold  Him.  Or  given 
again  a  great  scheme  of  divine  revelation,  extending 
through  successive  dispensations,  it  is  not  incredible 
that  miracles  should  be  employed  at  the  founding 
of   such   dispensations,  or  at  great  crises   in  their 

\ 


vi.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  119 

course.  Similarly  with  testimony.  Everything 
here  again  depends  on  the  kind  of  testimony,  and 
on  the  circumstances  in  which  it  is  delivered. 
Human  testimony  may  be  very  faulty.  But  there 
are  cases  in  which  the  testimony  is  of  such  a 
character,  is  given  by  such  persons,  under  such 
conditions,  with  reference  to  such  events,  and  in 
such  a  manner,  that,  accepting  Hume's  own  canon, 
it  would  do  more  violence  to  reason  to  reject  it  than 
is  involved  in  its  acceptance. 

Where  these  two  things  coincide  :  (1)  where  the 
presumption  is,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  not 
against,  but  in  favour  of  the  miracle ;  and  (2)  where 
the  testimony  is  reliable,  and  the  matter  plainly 
one  on  which  the  witnesses  are  competent  to  judge, 
the  evidence  even  for  miracle,  instead  of  being  weak, 
may  be  very  strong  indeed. 

3.  In  dealing  with  the  evidence  for  miracle,  it  is 
well  not  to  allow  the  mind  to  be  unduly  biassed  by 
the  marshalling  of  instances  to  show  how,  with  the 
progress  of  knowledge,  belief  in  miracle  is  gradually 
being  driven  out  of  one  department  of  inquiry  after 
another,  and  the  reign  of  law  established.  This  is 
the  favourite  method,  e.g.,  of  Lecky  in  his  Ration- 
alism in  Europe.  It  is  pointed  out  how  the  progress 
of  science  has  banished  belief  in  miracle  in  number- 
less regions  where  it  once  flourished  ;  has  purged 
out  legend  and  fable  from  history  ;  has  destroyed 
belief  in  witchcraft,  etc.  Learned  men,  we  are 
reminded,  once  believed  in  witchcraft.  Its  reality 
was  held  to  be  proved  by  solemn  judicial  investiga- 
tions. But  ask — what  was  proved  ?  The  fact  that 
a  man  took  ill,  or  a  cow  died,  and  that  words  were 
spoken,  or  a  look  given,  with  which  the  misfortune 


120  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

was  connected.  That  is  not  proof  of  miracle.  What 
had  to  be  proved  was  actual  compact  with,  and  the 
agency  of,  Satan,  and  that  could  only  be  done  through 
extorted  confessions,  ordeals,  and  the  like — a 
totally  different  case  from  the  Biblical  miracles. 
It  is  quite  true  that  advance  in  enlightenment 
has  banished  a  world  of  fables  and  superstitions 
from  belief,  and  made  the  conditions  of  the  proof 
of  miracle  more  stringent.  But  is  the  effect  neces- 
sarily to  discredit  all  miracles,  especially  the  class 
of  miracles  with  which  we  have  here  to  do  ?  l  What 
if  the  effect  of  the  scrutiny  should  only  be  to 
strengthen  the  evidence  for  the  latter  by  bringing 
out  on  how  completely  different  a  footing  they  stand  ? 
The  same  remark  applies  to  the  alleged  '  ecclesi- 
astical '  miracles,  in  regard  to  which,  to  say  the  least, 
the  greatest  discrimination  requires  to  be  exercised.2 

■ 

V.  Historicity  of  Miracle. 

1.  Without  dwelling  longer  on  these  abstract 
considerations,  the  real  and  practical  question  may 
now  be  looked  at — How  far  the  miracles  which 
enter  into  the  scheme  of  Biblical  revelation  are 
inherently  credible  and  sufficiently  attested.  This 
is  the  question  of  historicity.  It  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  the  conditions  of  the  discussion  on  this  question 
are  considerably  altered  from  what  they  were  in 
comparatively  recent  years.  Take,  e.g.,  the  old  way 
of  establishing  the  miracles  of  the  period  of  the 

1  Butler's  remarks  on  this  point  in  his  Analogy,  Pt.  II.  ch.  ii. 
and  vii.,  well  deserve  consideration. 

2  Hume's  test-case — the  miracles  at  the  tomb  of  the  Abbe-  Paris — 
is  dealt  with,  and  effectually  riddled,  by  Campbell  in  his  Dissertation 
on  Miracles.    Cf.  also  Leland,  Deistical  Writers,  Let.  xix. 


vi.]  EEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  121 

Exodus.  First,  the  Pentateuch  was  shown  by  various 
lines  of  evidence  to  be  the  work  of  Moses  ;  this  was 
next  held  to  give  the  narratives  in  Exodus  the 
value  of  the  testimony  of  an  eye-witness  ;  finally, 
it  was  shown  that  Moses  did  not  deceive,  and  could 
not  be  deceived,  in  what  he  wrote.  It  would  not 
be  easy  now  to  gain  assent  to  the  proposition  that 
the  Pentateuch,  as  it  stands,  is  the  work  of  Moses ; 
so  the  argument  breaks  down  at  the  outset. 
Similarly,  the  Gospels  had  first  to  be  proved  to  be 
the  genuine  works  of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and 
John  ;  then  the  miracles  were  proved  by  the  credit 
due  to  these  witnesses.  The  intellectual  outlook 
has  changed,  and,  instead  of  basing  belief  in  the 
revelation,  as  was  formerly  done,  on  the  proof  of 
the  miracles,  it  is  now  customary  to  hold  that  it  is 
the  revelation  that  sustains  credit  in  the  miracles — 
so  far  as  any  credit  is  given  to  them.  The  miracles 
of  Christ,  e.g.,  are  believed  in  for  Christ's  sake ;  it  is 
not  the  miracles  that  sustain  faith  in  Christ. 

There  is  undoubtedly  a  large  element  of  truth  in 
this  position.  It  is  freely  granted  that  the  miracles 
of  Scripture  cannot  be  satisfactorily  proved  as  bare, 
external  facts ;  they  derive  support  from  their 
place  in,  and  connection  with,  the  general  scheme 
of  revelation.  On  the  other  hand,  it  can  in  no  way 
be  conceded  that  historical  evidence  is  no  element 
in  the  proof.  There  is  historical  evidence,  and  that 
of  a  very  cogent  kind,  for  many  of  the  greater 
miracles  of  Scripture — for  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ,  for  example.  For  others,  the  evidence  is 
still  considerable,  and  warrants  a  reasonable  con- 
viction of  the  truth  of  the  event.  Some  miracles 
are  entitled  to  our  faith  as  belonging  to  groups  or 


122  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

classes  which  may  be  regarded  as  strongly  attested 
as  a  whole.  We  cannot,  e.g.,  prove  independently 
each  separate  miracle  of  Jesus,  but  we  may  establish 
with  great  cogency  that  He  did  work  miracles,  and 
that  miracles  entered  as  a  large  element  into  the 
apostolic  testimony  about  Him.  Beyond  this  we 
are  driven  back  on  the  internal  character  and 
general  credibility  of  the  narrative  which  records 
the  miracle,  on  the  connection  of  the  miracles  with 
the  personalities  by  whom  they  were  wrought,  and 
the  occasions  on  which  they  were  wrought,  and  on  the 
greater  evidences  which  support  the  scheme  of 
which  they  form  a  part  as  a  supernatural  system. 

2.  One  error  into  which  Hume  and  many  since 
have  fallen,  is  to  assume  that  the  only  class  of  testi- 
mony available  for  miracle  is  individual  testimony. 
It  is  the  witness  of  the  individual  observer  which 
alone  is  held,  to  be  of  account.  Then  to  this  the 
most  stringent  tests  are  applied.  This,  however, 
unfairly  represents  the  real  strength  of  the  case.  It 
might  be  thought  easier  to  prove  an  individual 
miracle  than  to  establish  the  reality  of  a  general 
supernatural  system,  of  which  the  individual  miracles 
form  part.  But  it  is  not  so  actually.  Just  as  Plato 
found  it  easier  to  study  justice  '  writ  large '  in  the 
State  before  beginning  to  study  it  in  the  individual, 
so  it  will  be  found  easier  to  establish  the  reality  of  a 
supernatural  system  on  the  large  scale  than  to  estab- 
lish the  special  miracles  which  are,  as  it  were,  parts 
or  corollaries  of  that  system.  The  system,  because  it 
is  taken  as  a  whole,  and  regarded  in  its  complete 
proportions,  may  be  seen  to  exhibit  evidences  of 
supernatural  origin  which  go  far  to  sustain  the 
credit    of   particular    miracles    associated    with    it. 


vi.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  123 

Much  of  this  evidence,  internal  to  the  system,  has 
already*  been  adverted  to — the  monotheism,  e.g., 
spirituality,  organic  unity,  teleology,  of  the  reli- 
gion of  the  Old  Testament ;  the  unique  doctrines 
and  special  adaptation  to  the  needs  of  a  sinful 
world  of  the  Gospel  of  the  New  Testament ;  the 
element  of  prophecy,  and  fulfilment  of  the  Old 
Testament  in  the  New.  These  are  proofs  of  the 
supernatural  strain  that  runs  through  Scripture  as 
a  whole. 

VI.  Internal  and  External  Evidence. 

Hume,  therefore,  is  wrong  in  staking  everything 
on  '  testimony,'  and  there  solely  on  the  witness  of 
individual  persons  who  can  be  cited  and  examined. 
The  evidence  for  miracle  is  much  wider  in  its  scope. 

1.  It  is  not  going  too  far  to  say  that  faith  in  miracle 
may  rest  on  something  other  than  external  evidence 
of  any  kind.  There  is  an  internal  evidence  which 
often  constrains  faith  where  external  evidence  fails  ; 
which  may  be  a  substitute,  or  more  than  a  sub- 
stitute, for  external  evidence.  '  Because  thou  hast 
seen  Me,'  said  Jesus  to  Thomas,  '  thou  hast  believed  ; 
blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen  and  yet  have 
believed.' x  Suppose,  for  instance,  that  the  Gospels 
had  come  into  our  hands  without  the  least 
external  clue  to  their  authorship,  origin,  or  the  value 
to  be  attached  to  their  testimony.  Would  it  have 
been  our  duty  to  set  them  at  once  aside  ?  Or 
would  there  not  still  have  shone  out  from  their 
narratives  a  convincing  testimony  to  their  essential 
truthfulness,  and  to  the  historicity  of  the  divine 
portrait  which  they  enshrine  ?  The  history  contains 
1  See  further  in  next  chapter. 


124  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIKATION  [ch. 

miracles.  The  account  of  these  miracles  interweaves 
itself  with  the  whole  narrative.  They  are  congruous 
with  the  character  of  the  Person  who  is  the  subject 
of  the  history.  They  are  wrought,  moreover,  in 
connection  with  His  work  ;  are  never  mere  show 
miracles.  They  have  an  ethical  character  and  aim. 
They  are  not  excrescences  on  the  narrative,  but  are 
bound  up  with  its  substance,  and  associated  with 
its  profoundest  and  most  original  words.  They 
are  part  of  the  material  from  which  the  picture  of 
Jesus  emerges.  If  He  is  historical,  they  are.  Faith 
in  them  may  be  felt  to  be  not  only  reasonable,  but 
irresistible.  Yet  external  evidence  has  not  thus  far 
been  so  much  as  touched  on. 

What  applies  to  the  Gospels  in  the  New  Testament 
applies  also,  though  with  necessary  abatement  of 
force,  to  many  of  the  miracles  of  the  Old  Testament. 
We  may  not  be  able  to  connect  the  miracle  in  each 
case — or  in  any  case — by  a  chain  of  evidence  with 
the  first  witnesses.  Yet  we  may  have  satisfying 
proof  of  a  general  scheme  of  revelation;  we  may 
have  the  presumption  of  miracle  in  that  scheme, 
we  may  have  the  congruence  of  the  miracle  with 
its  own  stage  of  revelation,  and  with  the  actors  in  it ; 
we  may  have  the  internal  credibility  of  the  narrative 
to  which  the  record  of  the  miracle  belongs.  We 
may  have,  as  before,  the  ethical  character  and  aim 
of  the  miracles  ;  their  interconnection  with  other 
elements  of  the  history ;  their  place  as  integral 
parts  of  a  revelation  confirmed  by  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  revelation.  The  revelation  of  God 
to  Moses  at  the  bush,  for  instance,  is  confirmed  by 
the  place  which  the  revelation  of  God  as  Jehovah 
has  in  the  after  history  of  the  people. 


vi.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  125 

2.  When  transition  is  made  from  internal  to 
external  evidence,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  latter — 
the  external  evidence — is  to  be  narrowed  down  to  the 
testimony  of  individual  witnesses.  Testimony  may 
be  conjunct,  not  individual ;  may  be  national,  not 
personal ;  may  be  in  consciousness  and  experience, 
not  in  documents  merely ;  may  be  monumental,  not 
in  words.  The  testimony  to  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus,  e.g.,  is  not  weakened  by  the  fact  that  it  is  the 
conjoint  testimony  of  the  whole  body  of  the  Aposto- 
late — a  testimony  in  which  it  never  wavered  or 
faltered.  The  entire  New  Testament  rests  on 
the  basis  of  this  harmonious  apostolic  testimony. 
Such  events,  again,  as  the  Exodus  of  Israel,  the 
crossing  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  covenant  at  Sinai, 
rest  not  on  the  statements  of  the  Book  of  Exodus 
only,  but  on  the  far  broader  basis  of  the  unchanging 
national  consciousness  of  Israel.  The  same  is  in 
a  measure  true  of  the  facts  of  the  patriarchal  history, 
which  the  Exodus  presupposes.  The  covenants 
with  the  fathers,  and  the  promises  made  to  them, 
are,  as  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy  shows,  the  bed- 
rock of  the  people's  consciousness  of  their  relation 
to  God.1  Similarly,  Christian  experience — the  con- 
sciousness of  the  Christian  Church — needs  such  a 
history  as  that  given  in  the  Gospels  to  sustain  it. 
The  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  human  hearts, 
in  communities,  in  history,  is  as  verifiable  a  fact  as 
any  we  know.  There  is  a  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Church 
— the  Fountain  of  light,  of  holiness,  of  power  ;  the 
Source  of  sane ti fie ation,  of  renewal,  of  peace  and  joy. 
This  effect — itself  supernatural — needs  a  cause,  and, 
tracing  it  back,  the  cause  is  only  to  be  found  in 

i  Cf.  Prob.  of  the  0.  T.,  pp.  93  ff.  100  ff. 


126  EEVELATION  AND  INSPIEATION  [ch. 

that  day  when,  the  heavens  being  opened,  Jesus, 
by  the  right  hand  of  God  exalted,  poured  forth  that 
which  men  saw  and  heard.1 

VII.  Special  Testimony  to  Miracles. 

These  considerations,  it  is  granted,  leave  many 
questions  open  with  regard  to  the  special  miracles. 
There  may  be  no  a  priori  objection  to  miracle  as 
such  ;  it  may  be  allowed  that  miracle  has  a  place  in 
the  scheme  of  revelation ;  but  this  still  leaves 
undetermined  the  degree  of  evidence  for  this  or  that 
particular  miracle.  It  has  already  been  pointed  out 
that  the  degree  of  this  evidence  greatly  varies.  For 
some  miracles  we  have  very  strong  evidence.  Others 
belong  to  groups  or  classes  strongly  attested  as  a 
whole.  For  others  the  evidence  is  weaker,  and  we 
can  only  say  of  them  that  they  are  reasonable  or 
credible  in  their  general  character,  or  in  the  place 
they  hold  in  the  system  of  revelation,  or  in  connec- 
tion with  the  general  credibility  of  the  account. 
Even  on  this  subject,  however,  certain  principles 
apply,  which  aid,  to  some  extent,  in  judging  of  the 
miracles,  even  where  they  cannot  be  individually 
tested. 

1.  One  such  principle  is  the  marked  reserve  and 
discrimination  shown  in  the  use  of  miracle  in  revela- 
tion. One  frequently  hears  of  the  prodigality  of 
miracles  in  Scripture.  But  this  is  a  very  erroneous 
impression,  especially  if  comparison  be  made  with 
other  religions,  where  often  the  distinction  of  natural 
and  supernatural  is  utterly  abolished.     What  strikes 

1  Acts  ii.  33.  Examples  of  institutional  testimony  are  seen  in  the 
Passover  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  Lord's  Supper  and  the 
observance  of  the  Lord's  Day  in  the  New. 


vi.]  EEYELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  127 

the  careful  reader  of  Scripture  is  rather  what  has 
been  called  the  '  parsimony  of  miracles.'  Miracle 
is  not  an  element  that  runs  through  all  Scripture 
equally,  or  appears  with  lavish  prodigality  any- 
where. Miracles  are,  on  the  contrary,  few,  rela- 
tively to  the  length  of  the  periods  involved,  and 
are  distributed  according  to  a  wise  and  intelligible 
principle,  viz. :  that  they  are  connected  with  the 
great  epochs,  and  grouped  around  the  great  person- 
alities in  revelation.  Apart  from  the  theophanies, 
miracles  hardly  appear  at  all  in  Genesis.  The  only 
physical  miracles,  if  such  they  can  be  called,  are  the 
flood  and  the  destruction  of  the  cities  of  the  plain  ; 
both  connected  with  natural  causes.  The  period 
of  the  Exodus,  and  of  the  wilderness  wanderings, 
is  marked,  as  it  was  reasonable  to  expect,  by  great 
'  signs  and  wonders ' — some  score  or  more  of  miracles. 
The  Conquest  begins  with  a  miracle — the  fall  of 
Jericho — after  that  no  more.1  Judges,  apart  again 
from  the  theophanies,  is  free  from  miracle,  unless 
wre  reckon  as  such  the  signs  of  Gideon  and  the 
supernatural  strength  of  Samson.  The  period  of 
the  kingdom  is  marked  by  hardly  any  miracles  till 
the  rise  of  the  great  prophetic  figures,  Elijah  and 
Elisha,  round  whom  miracles  again  cluster.  The 
prophetic  age  is  almost  destitute  of  miracle.  The 
dial  of  Ahaz  and  the  fish  of  Jonah,  with  such  a 
providential  miracle  as  the  destruction  of  Sennac- 
herib's army,  are  nearly  the  only  exceptions.  The 
Book  of  Daniel  has  two  miracles  :  the  deliverance 
of  the  three  Hebrews  from  the  fire,  and  of  Daniel  from 

1  It  is  very  doubtful  if  the  standing  still  of  the  sun  and  moon  in 
Josh.  x.  is  not,  as  the  quotation  from  the  Book  of  Joshua  suggests 
(ver.  12,  13),  to  be  understood  poetically. 


128  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

the  lions.  From  the  close  of  Old  Testament  history 
after  the  exile  till  the  time  of  Christ  there  are  no 
recorded  miracles.  In  the  New  Testament,  there 
are  the  miracles  of  our  Lord's  infancy,  ministry, 
and  resurrection,  and  those  connected  with  the 
founding  of  the  Church  by  the  apostles.  John  the 
Baptist  wrought  no  miracles.  Paul  claimed  the 
power  of  working  miracles,1  but  history  records  few 
examples  of  its  actual  exercise.  It  will  be  difficult 
for  any  one  to  say  that  this  is  an  extravagant 
profusion  of  miracles  to  be  spread  over  the  whole 
history  of  revelation. 

2.  Another  principle,  intimately  connected  with 
the  foregoing,  is  that,  as  already  remarked,  the 
miracles  of  the  Bible  are  never  mere  prodigies,  or 
aimless  displays  of  power,  but  stand  in  cZo.se  relation 
with  the  history  of  revelation,  and  are  strictly 
subordinate  to  its  ends.  They  are  wrought,  not 
simply  to  strike  wonder  into  the  beholders,  but 
for  high  and  holy  purposes,  and  to  advance  the  ends 
of  God's  Kingdom.  They  are  wrought  mainly 
through  the  agency  of,  or  in  connection  with,  the 
great  personages  of  revelation,  e.g.,  Moses,  Elijah, 
Christ,  and  are  rendered  credible  by  their  connection 
with  these  persons,  and  by  the  marks  of  sobriety 
and  truthfulness  in  the  history  generally.  This 
unique  character  of  the  Biblical  miracles  appears 
pre-eminently  in  the  miracles  of  Christ,  but  is  not 
confined  to  these.  The  law  may  be  said  to  be  a 
general  one. 

3.  For  the  rest,  it  may  be  affirmed  that  the 
testimony  of  the  greater  miracles  of  Scripture  does, 
in  one  form  or  another,  go  back  to  eye-witnesses, 

i  Rom.  xv.  18,  19. 


vi.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  129 

though  the  process  of  the  testimony  cannot  always 
be  traced.  The  connection  of  Moses  with  the 
books  that  bear  his  name  may  be  left  to  criticism 
to  determine.  The  credibility  of  the  books  is  not 
destroyed  by  any  difficulties  about  authorship. 
The  miracles  of  the  Mosaic  period,  if  real,  were 
wrought  on  a  vast  and  imposing  scale,  and  were 
witnessed  by  a  whole  generation  of  Israelites. 
Could  the  essential  facts  ever  be  forgotten  ?  The 
vividness  and  dramatic  character  of  the  narratives 
seem  to  attest  that  records  must  have  come  down 
from  a  time  not  far  removed  from  the  events ;  that, 
at  least,  the  narratives  took  shape  when  tradition 
was  still  fresh  and  reliable.  The  histories  of  Elijah 
and  Elisha  plainly  come  from  the  schools  of  the 
disciples  of  these  prophets,  and  the  strain  of  miracle 
in  the  narratives  might  be  set  down  to  the  later 
glorification  of  legend,  were  it  not  that  it  is  found 
in  these  prophetic  histories  alone,  is  congruous  with 
the  personages  concerned,  and  with  the  crisis  of  the 
age  in  which  they  lived,  and  is  so  deeply  embedded 
in  the  narratives  that  it  is  hardly  possible  to 
eliminate  it  without  destroying  the  whole  story. 
The  characters  of  the  prophets  themselves  have  a 
life-like  forcefulness  which  speaks  to  the  truth  of  the 
portrayal.  The  narratives  of  Christ's  miracles  in 
the  Gospels  rest  on  a  firm  foundation  of  apostolic 
testimony.  They  place  us  throughout  in  contact 
with  original  witness.  Matthew,  who  contributes 
at  least  the  groundwork  of  the  narrative  that  bears 
his  name,  was  an  eye-witness.  John  was  an  eye- 
witness. Mark  was  the  companion  and  '  interpreter  ' 
of  Peter.  Luke  put  in  writing  those  things  which 
had  been  delivered  by  *  eye-witnesses  and  ministers 

I 


130  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [en, 

of  the  word.' 1  The  whole  tradition  of  the  life  of 
Jesus  must  have  been  wrought  into  shape,  and 
fixed  in  the  form  in  which  it  comes  to  us  in  the 
Synoptics,  during  the  years  of  the  close  association 
and  preaching  of  the  apostles  at  Jerusalem.  The 
product  in  the  Gospels  is  c  worthy  of  all  acceptation.' 

l  Luke  i.  1,  2. 


7ii.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  131 


CHAPTER  VII 

JESUS  CHRIST — THE   SUPREME  REVEALER  AND 
SUPREME  MIRACLE 

Discussion  returns  at  length  to  the  Personality  in 
whom  all  revelation  is  summed  up — the  One  towards 
whose  advent  in  the  fulness  of  the  times  l  all  the 
lines  of  God's  providence  converged  ;  whose  appear- 
ance, when  He  did  come,  formed  the  starting-point 
for  the  world's  future.  Jesus  is,  without  exagger- 
ation, at  the  present  moment,  the  centre  of  the 
interest  of  the  world.  He  is  '  set  for  the  falling  and 
rising  again  of  many.' 2  Thoughtful  minds  feel 
that  the  task  is  laid  upon  them  of  explaining  Him  ; 
of  coming  to  some  understanding  with  Him.  The 
heathen  peoples — rival  systems  of  religion,  in  India, 
China,  Japan,  elsewhere — are  awakening  to  realise 
that  it  is  with  Jesus  and  His  religion  they  have  to 
do  ;  that  the  supreme  question  for  their  future  is 
the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  His  claims. 

I.  'Modern'  View  of  Jesus. 

To  those  who  deny  supernatural  revelation  Jesus 
is  necessarily  a  problem.  What  are  they  to  make 
of  Him  ?  The  one  thing  they  are  sure  of  is,  that  the 
supernatural  claims  set  up  for  Him  cannot  be  ad- 
mitted.    Whatever  their  admiration  for  His  Person- 

i  Gal.  iv.  4.  2  Luke  ii.  34. 


132  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

ality  and  religion,  He  must  be  brought  and  kept 
within  purely  human  limits.  To  show  how  this 
may  be  successfully  done  is  the  aim  of  numerous 
recent  efforts  at  depicting  His  life  and  work.  There 
are  many  schools  in  the  negative  camp,  but  this  is 
the  common  denominator  of  them  all — the  gravi- 
tation-level to  which  they  all  tend.  Jesus  must  be 
non-miraculous. 

1.  The  Jesus  of  the  new  'modern'  school  is 
represented  thus.  The  ground  fact  is  that  a  young 
Galilean  peasant,  son  of  Joseph  and  Mary  of 
Nazareth,  starting  as  a  disciple  of  John  the  Baptist, 
became,  about  his  thirtieth  year,  the  originator  of  a 
remarkable  religious  movement  in  Galilee.  This 
brought  Him  into  collision  with  the  Pharisees  and 
ecclesiastical  heads  of  the  nation,  and  led,  after 
perhaps  a  year's  activity,  to  His  being  arrested  at 
Jerusalem  at  the  Passover,  and,  after  trial  by  the 
Sanhedrim,  and  before  Pontius  Pilate,  put  to  death 
by  crucifixion  as  a  blasphemer.  Whether,  as  the 
Gospels  say,  He  claimed  for  Himself  the  title  Messiah 
is  a  moot  question  ;  whether  He  spoke  the  Apocal- 
yptic discourses  attributed  to  Him  is  held  to  be  even 
more  doubtful.  Probably,  as  most  allow,  He  did 
both,  and  to  that  extent,  as  in  many  other  parti- 
culars of  His  thinking,  was  a  victim  of  delusion,  or 
shared  the  erroneous  beliefs  of  His  age.  But  His 
soul  was  one  of  singular  purity — not  '  sinless,'  for 
the  modern  mind  dare  not  use  so  absolute  a  word  ; 
His  religious  and  ethical  ideals  were  the  most 
spiritual  yet  given  to  mankind ;  while  the  filial 
confidence  He  exercised  in  the  Father,  His  perfect 
love  and  sympathy  with  men,  and  the  continual 
polemic  which  cost  Him  His  life  against  the  merely 


vii.]  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  133 

outward,  ceremonial,  and  legal  in  religion,  in  favour 
of  a  spiritual  worship,  and  an  inward  morality  of  the 
heart,  made  Him,  in  another  sense  than  the  theo- 
logical, the  true  Founder  of  a  Kingdom  of  God  on 
earth.  He  gave  up  His  life  on  the  Cross  in  fidelity 
to  His  convictions,  but,  it  need  not  be  said,  according 
to  this  new  reading,  did  not  rise  again.  It  is  allowed 
that  His  disciples  believed  He  did,  and  even  that 
they  had  seen  Him,  and  that  it  was  by  the  energetic 
preaching  of  a  Risen  Lord  that  the  Christian  Church 
was  founded.  These  dreams,  however,  we  are  told, 
are  gone,  and  the  Church  of  the  future  will  have  to 
content  itself  with  a  Jesus  on  whose  grave,  as 
Matthew  Arnold  said,  the  Syrian  stars  still  look 
down. 

2.  Such  is  the  picture.  What  is  to  be  said  of  it  ? 
What  can  be  said  of  it,  except  that,  professing  to  be 
1  religious-historic al,'  it  is  not  historical  in  any  real 
sense  of  the  word  ?  It  is  a  picture  to  be  rejected, 
not  on  any  a  priori  dogmatic  grounds,  but  simply 
because  it  does  not  fit  the  facts.  It  does  not  explain 
the  Jesus  of  the  Gospels.  It  does  not  explain  the 
faith  and  hope  of  the  early  Christian  Church,  based 
on  the  facts  which  the  Gospels  record.  It  does  not 
explain  the  vast  effects  which  have  come  from  the 
appearance  and  work  of  this  Jesus.  It  does  not 
explain  how  even  such  an  image  of  Jesus  came  to  be 
there — who  created  it,  or  could  create  it,  or  whence 
the  materials  came  from  which  it  was  composed. 
It  does  not  explain  the  edifice  of  Christian  life, 
work,  hope,  and  aspiration  which  has  been  built  on 
Jesus,  and,  despite  of  all  assaults  on  it,  has  endured 
through  the  ages.  It  does  not  explain  Christian 
experience,    Christian    character,    Christian    enthu- 


134  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

siasm  and  enterprise,  the  consciousness  of  redemp- 
tion through  Christ  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
all. 

II.  The  Self-Consciousness  of  Jesus. 

Instead  of  taking  this  picture  critically  to  pieces, 
as  has  so  often  been  done,  the  more  positive  task 
may  be  attempted  of  regarding  Jesus  in  the  light  of 
His  own  revelation  of  Himself  and  of  the  Father. 
In  this  may  be  found  the  most  effective  refutation 
of  the  opposite  representation. 

1.  The  study  of  Jesus  begins  with  His  own  con- 
sciousness of  Himself — with  His  self -consciousness  in 
its  essential  contents.  The  central  point  in  Christ's 
self-consciousness  is  usually  sought  in  His  filial  spirit 
— in  his  sense  of  Sonship  to  God.  He  felt  and 
knew  Himself  from  the  beginning  to  be  a,  or  more 
correctly  the,  Son  of  God.  It  is  true  that  Jesus  had 
this  uninterrupted  consciousness  of  Sonship  ;  but  it 
is  an  error  to  speak  as  if  this  consciousness  explained 
itself,  or  was  the  most  original  element  in  His  ex- 
perience. It  is  customary  to  say  that  from  Christ's 
consciousness  of  Sonship — from  his  possession  of 
the  filial  spirit — was  derived  His  conception  of  God 
as  Father.  But  the  knowledge  of  God  as  Father  is 
not  a  deduction  from  Christ's  consciousness  of  being  a 
Son.  It  is  the  other  way.  It  is  through  the  know- 
ledge of  God  as  Father  that  the  spirit  of  filial  con- 
fidence, surrender,  obedience,  and  love,  is  awakened. 
The  two  things  grow  up  together,  but  of  the  two 
the  intuition  of  God  as  Father  necessarily  takes  the 
precedence.  This  again  is  given,  not  as  a  result  of 
inference  or  reasoning,  but  as  an  original  revelation 
in  the  soul  of  Jesus  ;    a  veritable  intersphering  of 


vii.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  135 

the  consciousness  of  the  Father  and  the  Son.  *  I  am 
in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in  Me.' *  '  No  one 
knoweth  the  Son,  save  the  Father  ;  neither  doth 
any  know  the  Father  save  the  Son,  and  He  to  whom- 
soever the  Son  willeth  to  reveal  Him.'  2  The  fact  of 
this  immediate  knowledge  which  Christ  had  of  the 
Father  may  be  psychologically  inexplicable,  but  it 
is  none  the  less  real — a  '  mystery  of  godliness.'  3 

2.  With  this  original  element  in  Christ's  conscious- 
ness is  to  be  taken  a  second  :  His  sinlessness.  This 
was  Christ's  own  consciousness  regarding  Himself, 
and  it  was  the  unanimous  belief  and  testimony  of 
His  followers  about  Him  :  He  was  without  sin.4 
There  is,  quite  naturally,  something  like  a  feeling  of 
resentment  growing  up  among  the  '  moderns  '  that 
*  sinlessness  ' — perfect  holiness — unbroken  harmony 
of  mind  and  will  with  God — should  be  attributed  to 
Jesus.  Christ's  own  saying  is  often  quoted  as  proof 
of  the  opposite  :  '  None  is  good  save  One,  even  God.'  5 
But  this  is  to  mistake  the  meaning  of  the  passage. 
Even  in  the  case  of  Jesus  there  was  a  contrast 
between  the  ethical,  developing  goodness,  advancing 
to  its  human  perfection  through  trial  and  suffering, 
of  which  He  was  the  subject — '  Though  he  was  a  Son, 
yet  learned  He  obedience  by  the  things  which  he 
suffered ' 6 — and  the  absolute,  eternal  goodness  of 
the  Godhead.  The  realised  perfection  of  the  Father 
was  the  archetype  even  for  Him.  This  was  a  truth 
of  which  the  rich  young  man,  with  his  light  use  of  the 
title  '  good,'  and  his  superficial  ideals  of  goodness, 

i  John  xiv.  10.  *  Matt.  xi.  27.  3  1  Tim.  ill.  16. 

4  2  Cor.  v.  21 ;  1  Pet.  ii.  22 ;  1  John  iii.  5,  etc. 
6  Mark  x.  18.     Thus  Schmiedel,  Bousset,  G.  B.  Foster,  etc. 
6  Heh.  v.  8 


136  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

needed  to  be  reminded.  But  there  is  in  this  acknow- 
ledgment no  confession  or  consciousness  of  personal 
sin  on  the  part  of  Jesus.  That  was  an  element 
perfectly  foreign  to  His  mind.  Jesus  never  once 
confesses  sin,  or  prays  for  forgiveness  of  sin.  With 
the  purest  and  profoundest  consciousness  of  what 
sin  was  in  others,  He  betrays  not  the  slightest  trace 
of  knowledge  of  sin  in  Himself ;  indeed,  repels  the 
imputation.1  His  mission  in  the  world  is  to  save 
sinners.2  In  the  very  fact  of  his  taking  such  a  role, 
He  distinguishes  Himself  from  sinners. 

The  moral  perfection  ascribed  to  Jesus  is  not  less 
evident  from  the  actual  survey  of  His  character. 
As  depicted  in  the  Gospels,  He  is  '  holy,  guileless, 
undefiled,  separated  from  sinners.'  3  One  is  struck  by 
the  unexampled  way  in  which  the  greatest  ethical  con- 
trasts meet  in  the  perfection  of  Jesus.  With  the  most 
wonderful  universality  of  nature  is  seen  combined 
the  keenest  individual  sympathy  ;  with  marvellous 
majesty,  the  greatest  meekness  and  lowliness  of 
heart ;  with  unsullied  purity,  the  tenderest 
solicitude  for  the  recovery  of  the  fallen.  Dignity 
in  this  character  is  joined  with  repose ;  the  loftiest 
claims  with  the  gentlest  condescension ;  intensest 
devotion  with  constant  practical  activity  ;  burning 
zeal  for  holiness  with  an  all-compassionating  mercy. 
Wondrous  wisdom  is  combined  with  yet  more 
wondrous  patience  towards  those  who  are  slow  of 
understanding  and  heart.  The  will  of  this  holy 
being  never  swerves  from  God's  will.  God's  end  is 
His  end ;   He  so  embodies  and  incarnates  God  that 

1  John  viii.  46  ;  xiv.  30. 

«  Matt.  i.  21 ;  ix.  19,  20  ;  Luke,  xix.  10. 

»  Heb.  vii.  26. 


vii.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  137 

He  can  say  :    *  He  that  hath  seen  Me  hath  seen  the 
Father.' x  " 

3.  This  consciousness  of  sinlessness  in  Jesus, 
coalescing  with  the  consciousness  of  His  unique 
relation  to  the  Father,  must,  from  the  beginning, 
have  made  a  distinction  between  Him  and  others,  of 
which  He  could  not  but  have  been  aware.  Such  a 
consciousness,  moreover,  could  not  have  been 
present  without  awakening  in  Him  the  sense  of  a 
vocation.  He  alone  knew  the  Father.  He  knew 
Himself  to  be  separated  from  others  by  His  freedom 
from  sin,  at  the  same  time  that  He  felt  Himself  knit 
to  them  by  bonds  of  tenderest  love.  From  these 
roots  developed  the  consciousness  that  He  was 
*  sent,'  with  a  mission  peculiar  to  Himself,  to  save 
and  bless  the  world.  This  sense  of  vocation  is  an 
element  in  Christ's  consciousness  equally  original 
with  the  others.  It  was  there  in  germ  from  the 
first.2  It  was  part  of  the  revelation  of  the  Father 
in  His  soul.  The  mode  and  stages  of  this  conscious- 
ness of  vocation — what  is  named  particularly 
Messianic  consciousness — are  necessarily  obscure. 
But  from  the  period  of  the  Baptism  it  is  manifest, 
and  can  be  studied  in  its  completed  form.  In  this 
Messianic  consciousness,  Jesus  connects  Himself 
with  the  past.  He  knows  Himself  to  be  the  goal  and 
fulfilment  of  all  Old  Testament  revelation.  He 
fulfils  law  and  prophets.3  He  appropriates  to  Him- 
self all  prophecies  and  promises  relating  to  the 
Messiah.4    He  is  the  King — the  Son  of  David — the 

1  John  xiv.  9. 

2  It  is  manifest  in  His  words  when  found  in  the  temple  with  the 
doctors,  Luke  ii.  48-50. 

*  Matt.  v.  17.  *  Mark  ix.  12 ;  Luke  xxiv.  25-27. 


138  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

Founder  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  Lord  over  it. 
Even  while  spiritualising  the  idea  of  the  Kingdom, 
and  freeing  it  from  all  national  and  legal  limitations, 
He  holds  fast  to  the  essential  prophetic  conception 
of  a  future  realised  reign  of  righteousness  among 
men.1  He  knows  what  is  written  of  the  superhuman 
dignity,  exalted  prerogatives,  and  future  triumphs 
of  the  coming  King.2  He  identifies  Himself  with 
Isaiah's  '  Servant  of  Jehovah  ' 3 — specially  with 
what  is  foretold  of  the  Servant's  humiliation  and 
atoning  suffering,  and  of  His  after  victory.4  He 
connects  His  death  with  the  redeeming  sacrifice 
of  the  Passover.5  His  Messianic  vocation  meant 
salvation  to  the  world.  It  meant  sacrifice,  consecra- 
tion, surrender  of  His  life  for  others,  a  death  which 
was  redemption?  His  consecration  at  the  Baptism 
meant  the  acceptance  of  this  vocation.  Jesus  saw 
from  that  first  hour  what  lay  before  Him  ;  knew  that 
He  must  die.  The  second  and  third  temptations 
show  His  definite  choice  of  the  path  of  the  Cross  in 
opposition  to  false  and  worldly  ideals  of  Messiahship.7 
4.  Yet  another  element  in  this  original  conscious- 
ness of  Jesus  is  the  consciousness  of  supernatural 
powers.  This  is  with  Him  at  least  from  the  time 
of  the  Baptism — probably  earlier.  In  the  perfect 
purity  of  His  nature,  and  unbroken  consciousness 
of  Sonship  with  God,  He  stood  in  unique  rapport 
also  with  the  forces  of  the  natural  and  spiritual 
worlds.  These  were  at  His  disposal.8  Miraculous 
power  is  implied  in  the  first  temptation,  while  in 
this  temptation  there  is  the  renunciation  of  all  use 

i  Matt.  vi.  10.  a  Cf.  Is.  ix.  6,  7.  3  Luke  iv.  21. 

4  Luke  xxii.  37.  5  In  the  Lord's  Supper. 

6  Matt.  x.  28.  7  Cf.  Matt.  iv.  5-11.  8  Matt.  viii.  7-13. 


vil]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  139 

of  this  power  for  His  own  personal  ends.1  The 
miracles  of  Jesus — supernatural  to  us — were  natural 
to  Him  ;   were,  as  John  calls  them,  His  '  works.'  2 

5.  From  the  depths  of  the  unique  consciousness 
of  Jesus  sprang  naturally  His  claims.  These  claims, 
stupendous  and  arrogant,  if  judged  by  a  merely 
human  standard,  are  but  the  expression  of  His 
knowledge  of  Himself,  of  His  mission,  of  His  divine 
authority,  of  the  work  the  Father  had  given  Him 
to  do.  He  knew  whence  He  was,  and  whither  He 
went ;  hence  He  alone  could  adequately  testify  of 
Himself.3  He  was  '  Son  of  Man,'  but  also  '  Son  of 
God  ' — both  expressions  being  used  in  a  unique  and 
pregnant  sense.  He  had  divine  authority  to  forgive 
sins.  He  had  all  authority  given  to  Him  in  heaven 
and  in  earth.4  He  baptized  with  the  Holy  Spirit. 
He  was  Fulfiller  of  the  Old  Testament ;  Messiah ; 
King  ;  Lord  of  men.  He  was  the  Saviour  of  the 
world  ;  was  likewise  the  Judge  of  the  world.  By 
relation  to  Him  the  everlasting  destinies  of  men  were 
determined.5  There  is  no  need  to  imagine  '  little 
Apocalypses ' 6  to  account  for  the  eschatological 
sayings  of  Jesus.  The  eschatological  utterances 
came  from  the  same  self-consciousness  as  the  rest 
of  His  claims.  After  He  had  died,  He  predicted, 
He  would  rise  again.7  He  would  return  in  the 
glory  of  His  Father,  and  with  the  holy  angels.8 
Exalted  to  heaven,  He  would  send  the  Spirit,  and 
be  with  His  disciples  till  the  end  of  the  world.9 

1  Matt.  iv.  3,  4.  2  E.g.,  John  v.  36  ;  x.  25,  32,  38,  etc. 

3  John  viii.  14.  *  Matt.  xi.  27  ;  xxviii.  18. 

8  Matt.  xxv.  31-46.  6  Thus  modern  critics. 

*  Matt.  xvi.  21,  etc.  8  Matt.  xiv.  27 ;  xxy.  31,  etc. 

»  Matt,  xxviii.  20 ;  Luke  xxiv.  49  ;  John  xv.  26,  etc. 


140  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

III.  Supernatural  Estimate  of  Jesus. 

How  are  such  a  life,  such  a  Personality,  such  a 
consciousness,  such  claims,  to  be  explained  ?  Out 
of  mere  humanity  ?  Out  of  evolution  ?  Then 
must  Jesus  have  been  like  other  men  ;  of  finer, 
grander  genius,  perhaps,  but  essentially  of  the  same 
mould  as  they,  with  frailty,  imperfection,  sin, 
adhering  to  Him.  But  this,  we  have  just  seen, 
He  was  not.  How  then  explain  Him  ?  How  did 
such  a  life  begin  ?  For  such  an  One  as  Jesus 
actually  was  a  unique  origin  must  be  postulated  ; 
such  a  superhuman  beginning  as  the  first  and  third 
Gospels  narrate.  How  did  such  a  life  end  ?  In 
death  ?  Or  in  triumph  over  death  :  in  conquest 
of  death :  in  resurrection,  as  the  Gospels  again 
assert  ?  In  affirming  the  Virgin  Birth  and  the 
Resurrection  of  Christ,  we  affirm  only  that  the  life 
of  Christ  is  of  a  piece ;  that  it  is  congruous  with 
itself,  and  with  the  claims  which  Christ  made 
throughout  His  whole  life.1 

Jesus  rose  from  the  dead.  His  resurrection  is 
the  pre-eminent  miracle  of  the  New  Testament ;  the 
miracle  which  guarantees  many  others,  and  sets  the 
seal  of  truth  on  the  claims  to  Messiahship  and  divine 
Sonship  that  went  before.2  It  was  the  rock  on  which 
the  apostolic  Church  was  founded ;  and  unbelief 
has  not  yet  succeeded  in  removing  that  rock  from 
its  place.  Rather  does  the  fact  become  surer  with 
the  failure  of  every  new  attempt  to  explain  it  away. 
Imposture  is  given  up  by  all  intelligent  minds  ;  the 
theory  of  swoon — of  apparent  death — was  shattered 

1  The  author  has  discussed  the  Virgin  Birth  of  Christ  and  the 
Resurrection  in  works  bearing  these  titles.  a  Rom.  i.  4. 


vii.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  141 

beyond  recall  by  the  criticism  and  irony  of  Strauss  ; 
changes  have  been  rung  on  the  vision-theory  till 
men  in  utter  weariness  are  deserting  it,  and  falling 
back  on  the  view  of  '  apparitions '  of  the  dead 
Jesus  ;  that  hypothesis,  again,  is  giving  place  to 
theories  of  derivation  of  the  belief  from  Babylonian, 
Persian,  and  other  pagan  myths.  Meanwhile,  '  the 
firm  foundation  of  God  standeth,'  1  and  Easter 
hymns  are  sung  as  of  old  in  all  lands  from  the  sun's 
rising  to  its  setting  ! 

The  resurrection  and  exaltation  of  Jesus  shed 
light  back  upon  His  claims  while  He  was  on  earth — ■ 
interpret  them,  complete  them  ;  but,  further,  His 
exaltation  shows  the  ultimate  ground  of  these  claims 
in  the  full  divine  dignity  of  His  Person.  He  who 
is  raised  to  the  throne  of  divine  dominion  ;  who  is 
worshipped  with  honours  due  to  God  only  ;  2  who 
is  joined  with  Father  and  with  Holy  Spirit  as,  co- 
ordinately,  the  source  of  grace  and  blessing,3  must  in 
nature  be  divine.  There  is  not  such  a  thing  as 
honorary  Godhead.  Hence  the  apostolic  doctrine 
of  Christ's  Person,  '  The  Word  was  God.  .  .  . 
The  Word  became  flesh.  .  .  .  The  only-begotten 
Son  who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  He  hath 
declared  Him.'  4  Hence,  as  an  immediate  corollary, 
the  absoluteness  of  Christ's  revelation.  Jesus  is  the 
Supreme  Revealer,  not  simply  by  what  He  said, 
but  by  what  He  was,  by  what  He  did,  and  by  what 
He  now  is.  No  other  can  succeed  Him,  or  displace 
Him,  or  supersede  His  revelation.     '  In  whom  are 

i  2  Tira.  ii.  19. 

a  John  v.  23  ;  Phil.  ii.  9-11 ;  Rev.  v.  8-14,  etc. 

J  2  Cor.  xiii.  14  ;  Rom.  i.  7,  etc. 

«  John  i.  1,  14,  18 ;  cf.  Phil.  ii.  6-11. 


142  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  hidden.' * 
All-embracing  in  its  scope,  universal  as  the  needs  of 
humanity,  His  revelation  is  yet  germinal  in  its 
fulness,  embodying  ideas,  laws,  principles,  which, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit,  it  lies  with  future 
ages  to  unfold. 


IV.  Aspects  of  Christ's  Eevklation. 

1.  It  has  been  made  a  reproach  to  the  religion  and 
morality  of  Jesus  that  He  did  not  busy  Himself  with 
the  secular  or  mundane  side  of  life — with  education, 
with  art,  with  economics,  with  politics.  Strauss, 
J.  S.  Mill,  Mazzini,2  and  others  more  extreme,  have 
made  this  objection  to  Jesus.  But  there  lies  in 
such  a  charge  a  grave  misapprehension  of  the  nature 
of  Christ's  revelation.  Jesus  did  not  busy  Himself 
with  these  secular  interests ;  not,  however,  because 
He  despised  these  things,  for,  as  His  parables  abund- 
antly show,  they  were  parts  of  a  divine  order  which 
He  fully  recognised.  The  world  to  Him,  with  all  its 
fulness  of  social  relations  and  interests,  was  God's 
world  ;  a  world  which  it  was  His  to  redeem,  and 
bring  into  harmony  with  the  will  of  God.  If  Jesus 
did  not  busy  Himself  directly  with  these  things,  it  is 
because  He  did  better.  Had  Jesus  intermeddled 
with  the  social  order  of  His  time  ;  had  He  laid 
down  rules  for  the  regulation  of  capital  and  labour, 
of  rulers  and  subjects,  of  bond  and  free  ;  had  He 
spent  His  brief  ministry  in  discussing  art,  or  education, 
or  politics,  His  teachings  long  ere  this  would,  like 
those    of    other    teachers,    have    become    obsolete. 

1  Col.  ii.  3,  9. 

2  Mill  in  essay  on  Liberty  ;  Mazzini  in  Essays,  v.  p.  363. 


vii.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  143 

The  order  of  the  world  changes,  and  rules  applicable 
to  one  age  or  stage  of  society  would  not  be  applicable 
to  another.  Hence  Christ  disclaimed  such  inter- 
ference. '  Man,  who  made  me  a  judge  or  a  divider 
over  you  ?  ' J  He  had  higher  work  to  do.  But  this 
He  did  ;  He  gave  to  the  world  the  great  regulative 
ideas  in  which  lie  the  solution  of  all  these  problems. 
He  enunciated  great  principles,  gave  great  master- 
truths  which  are  to  be  the  light  of  our  seeing  in  all 
our  discussions  of  such  questions,  and  of  our  legis- 
lation upon  them.  He  did  not,  e.g.,  enter  on  a  crusade 
against  slavery,  which  in  that  age  would  have  been 
futile.  But  He  laid  down  principles  as  to  the  nature 
of  man  and  man's  relation  to  God — as  to  the  infinite 
value  of  the  soul  and  the  essential  equality  of  all  men 
before  God — which  struck  at  the  very  foundations 
of  slavery,  and  were  bound  eventually  to  abolish  it, 
as  they  have  done  in  all  Christian  lands. 

2.  This,  however,  was  not  the  highest  or  peculiar 
sphere  of  Christ's  revelation.  To  reach  the  kernel 
of  that,  it  is  necessary  to  go  back  to  His  own  chosen 
expression  for  the  message  He  brought ;  '  the  King- 
dom of  God.'  The  Kingdom  of  God  was  the  subject 
which  continually  rilled  Christ's  thoughts.  It  de- 
fined for  Him  the  end  of  God's  purpose  in  the  world, 
and  therefore  of  His  own  mission.  The  Kingdom 
of  God  is  a  conception  of  many  sides  and  aspects. 
Yet,  as  Jesus  apprehended  it,  the  core  of  the  idea  is 
simple.  It  is  simply  the  expression  for  a  reign  of 
God  in  humanity — for  the  supremacy  of  God,  or  of 
God's  will,  in  human  hearts  and  human  affairs,  and 
in  every  department  of  these  affairs.  '  Thy  King- 
dom come.     Thy  will  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  on 

1  Luke  xii.  14. 


144  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

earth.'  *  The  Kingdom  of  God  begins  within,  in 
the  new  life  imparted  to  the  soul  by  Christ,  but  the 
Kingdom  is  not  intended  to  remain  within.  It  is  to 
work  itself  out  into  all  the  spheres  and  relations  of 
our  human  life,  and  God's  will  is  to  be  made  supreme 
in  each.  It  is  to  work  itself  out  into  the  family,  and 
God's  will  is  to  be  made  supreme  there  ;  into  social 
relations,  business  relations,  civic  relations,  political 
relations ;  into  arts,  commerce,  literature,  amuse- 
ments ;  and  God's  will  is  to  be  made  supreme  in  all. 
There  could  not  be  a  principle  more  practical  or 
comprehensive. 

3.  In  Christ's  doctrine  of  the  Kingdom  of  God 
are  embodied  all  the  great  truths  of  His  revelation. 
Here  most  clearly  it  is  seen  that  the  truth  He  reveals 
is  of  a  kind  that,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  can  never 
become  obsolete.  His  words  cannot  pass  away.2 
The  revelation  flows  from  Himself — from  the  depths 
of  His  personal  consciousness — and  is  therefore 
inseparable  from  Himself. 

(1)  Jesus  teaches,  first,  of  God  His  Father,  and  truth 
about  God,  His  being,  His  character,  His  purposes, 
His  love  and  forgiving  grace,  if  only  it  be  truth,  is 
truth  eternal  as  God  Himself. 

(2)  Jesus  teaches  about  man,  but  about  man  in 
what  relations  ?  Not  from  the  point  of  view  of  rank, 
or  age,  or  race,  or  sex,  or  culture  ;  but  from  the  point 
of  view,  solely,  of  man  as  a  spiritual  and  immortal 
being,  in  His  relations  to  God  and  to  eternity.  In 
this  light  alone  Christ  regards  man,  speaks  of  man, 
legislates  for  man,  calls  man  to  Himself.  He  is 
tenderly  sympathetic,  indeed,  to  man  in  his  weak- 
nesses and  afflictions.    He  comes  eating  and  drinking. 

*  Matt.  vi.  10.  a  Matt.  xxiv.  35. 


vil]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  145 

He  sits  at  the  marriage  feast.  He  keenly  observes 
the  varied  play  of  life  around  Him.  But  it  is  man, 
the  spiritual  being,  He  is  ever  beholding  in,  and 
through,  and  behind  all  this.  Jesus  deals  with  the 
universal,  the  abiding,  the  essential,  in  man.  It  is 
this  which  gives  His  words  weight,  and  makes  them 
enduring.  They  are  words  for  all  ages  and 
stages  of  civilisation  ;  for  all  grades  of  culture  ; 
for  highest  and  lowest  races  ;  for  all  conditions  of 
human  life.  Himself  the  embodiment  of  God's  ideal 
of  man  ('  Son  of  man '),  as,  on  the  other  side,  He  is 
the  ideal  embodiment  of  God  to  man  ('  Son  of  God  '), 
He  reveals  man  to  himself  and  in  his  relations  to  the 
Father.  As  correlative  to  His  doctrine  of  God's 
Fatherhood,  He  awakens  in  man  the  consciousness 
of  brotherhood. 

(3)  Jesus  teaches,  again,  about  sin — another  uni- 
versal fact  in  humanity.  Sin  is  that  which  involves 
humanity  in  spiritual  ruin,  frustrates  man's  true 
destiny  to  a  life  of  sonship  in  God's  Kingdom,  and 
creates  the  need  of  redemption.  Himself  pure  in 
every  thought  and  act,  Jesus  speaks  of  sin  as  a  power 
in  the  heart  as  well  as  a  fact  in  the  outward  life,1 
describes  it  as  bondage  and  disease,  as  entailing 
guilt  and,  in  its  awful  issues,  doom,2  and  as  im- 
peratively calling  for  divine  deliverance.  He  reveals 
grace  and  forgiveness,  and  connects  salvation  with 
His  own  Person  and  work,  peculiarly  with  His  death.3 
He  calls  sinners  to  repentance. 

(4)  Jesus  teaches  about  righteousness:  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  Kingdom ;  and,  in  opposition  to  Phari- 

1  Matt.  xv.  19 ;  John  iii.  3  ff.  etc. 

2  Matt.  vii.  23  ;  Luke  xiii.  3,  5 ;  John  viii.  24,  etc. 

*  Matt.  xx.  18,  19,  28  ;  John  iii.  14, 15  ;  vi.  51 ;  x.  15,  etc 

K 


146  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

saic  literalism,  formalism,  and  hypocrisy,  expounds 
that  righteousness  as  flowing  from  its  two  principles 
of  love  to  God  and  love  to  man.1  His  ideals  are 
not  the  world's.  In  most  respects  they  are  the 
inversion  of  the  world's  ideals,  involving,  to  borrow 
a  phrase  from  Nietzsche,  the  least  sympathetic  of 
men  with  Christ's  religion,  a  '  transvaluation  of  all 
values.'  They  directly  invert  ordinary  human 
standards,  in  everything  subordinating  the  material 
to  the  spiritual,  the  temporal  to  the  eternal,  the 
goods  of  the  body  to  the  goods  of  the  soul. 

(5)  Lastly,  Jesus  teaches  about  salvation,  or,  as  it 
is  often  phrased,  '  eternal  life.'  This  is  the  ultimate 
blessing  of  God's  Kingdom — participation  in  God's 
own  holy,  blessed,  incorruptible  life,  a  life  which 
in  its  nature  is  above  change  and  death,  which, 
beginning  here,  is  nourished  by  the  knowledge  of 
God  and  fellowship  with  Him,2  and  culminates  in 
the  immediate  vision  of  God  in  eternity.3 

The  very  enunciation  of  such  truths  proclaims  the 
absoluteness  and  enduringness  of  Christ's  revelation. 
A  Kingdom  of  God  based  on  such  truths  cannot  be 
only  of  earth  ;  it  points  beyond,  and  can  only  attain 
its  consummation  in  the  eternal  world.4  Immortality 
— e  incorruption  ' — perfecting  in  holiness — complete 
redemption  from  sin,  pain,  and  death — union  with 
all  the  good — are  involved  in  its  very  conception. 

4.  While  Christ  is  the  Revealer,  His  revelation  is 
not  to  be  divorced  from,  still  less  opposed  to,  the 
apostolic  Gospel,  which  further   unfolds   its  import. 

1  A  chief  exposition  is  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

2  John  xvii.  3. 

3  John  xvii.  24 ;  1  Cor.  xiii.  12 ;  Rev.  xxii.  3,  4,  etc. 

4  Matt.  xiii.  43 ;  xxv.  34 ;  Rev.  vii.  13-17,  etc. 


vil]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  147 

It  was  only  in  part  that  even  Jesus  could  discover 
to  His  disciples  the  whole  truth  about  Himself 
and  His  work  ;  for  salvation  was  to  be  through 
Himself,  and  His  work  had  to  be  completed  before 
it  could  be  understood.  The  great  sacrifice  in  which 
His  mission  on  earth  culminated  had  not  yet  been 
made,  though  it  was  looked  forward  to,  and 
intimations  were  given  of  it.1  The  meaning  of  that 
sacrifice  had  afterwards  to  be  unfolded.  The  Cross 
had  to  be  shown  to  be  the  supreme  revelation  at 
once  of  the  love  and  of  the  holiness  of  God.  There 
sin  and  righteousness  met  together,  the  one 
to  receive  its  decisive  defeat  through  the  other. 
Salvation  from  sin  did  not  ignore  law,  or  the  law's 
condemnation  of  sin,  but  was  accomplished  through 
voluntary  submission  to  the  worst  that  sin  could 
inflict,  or  that  God's  judgment  on  the  sin  of  the 
world  entailed.2  Christ  was  obedient  even  unto 
the  death  of  the  Cross.3  The  completeness  of  His 
work,  its  acceptance  by  the  Father,  the  finality  of 
His  conquest  of  sin  and  death,  were  attested  by  His 
resurrection  in  power,  The  apostolic  Gospel  but 
explains  all  this,  and  sets  it  in  the  full  light  shed  on 
it  by  Christ's  exaltation,  and  the  mission  of  His 
Spirit.4 

V.  The  Self-Humiliation  of  Jesus. 

A  question  which  necessarily  arises  out  of  the 
claim  of  Christ  to  be  the  medium  of  the  absolute 
revelation   of   God   to   man — one   which   has   been 

1  Matt.  xx.  28  ;  xxvi.  28  ;  John  iii.  14-16  ;  vi.  51,  etc. 

*  Rom.  iii.  21-31 ;  viii.  1-3  ;  2  Cor.  v.  21,  etc. 

*  Phil.  ii.  8.  4  John  xiv.  25,  26  j  xv.  26,  etc. 


148  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

much  discussed  in  recent  times — relates  to  the 
limitations  of  Christ's  human  consciousness.  It  is 
the  problem  of  the  '  Kenosis,'  or  self-emptying  of 
Christ  in  His  incarnate  life,1  with  its  effects  in 
limitation  and  possible  error  in  His  human  knowledge. 
The  question  of  the  '  Kenosis '  on  its  theological 
side,  or  as  relates  to  the  supra-temporal  (divine) 
mode  of  Christ's  being  as  Son,  is  here  left  out  of 
view.2  Even  on  the  human  side,  however,  it  is  to 
be  noticed  that  the  term  '  Kenosis '  has  no 
appropriateness,  save  as  the  higher  mode  of  being, 
and  a  voluntary  condescension  to  the  human  state, 
are  implied.  On  a  humanitarian  theory  there  may 
be  limitation,  but  there  can  be  no  voluntary  self- 
limitation,  such  as  the  Pauline  term  connotes. 
It  may  be  desirable,  therefore,  to  drop  the  use  of 
this  particular  term,  and  speak  simply  of  the 
limitations  which  belonged  to  Christ  as  man,  and 
of  the  bearings  of  these  on  His  revelation. 

1.  The  tendencv  in  recent  discussion,  it  must  have 
been  observed,  has  been  to  push  this  doctrine  of 
limitation  very  far.  Even  among  those  who  accept 
the  reality  of  the  incarnation,  and  acknowledge 
Christ  as,  in  His  eternal  being,  '  very  God  of  very 
God,'  the  disposition  is  to  view  Him  in  the  incarnate 
state  as  so  '  depotentiated '  of  all  the  attributes  of 
Godhead  as  to  be  hardly  distinguishable,  in  the 
growth  and  development  of  His  human  consciousness, 
from  an  ordinary  man.  He  was  not  only  humanly 
ignorant  of  all  that  did  not  belong  to  His  direct 
mission,  but  was  in  actual  error  on  many  points. 

1  The  term  is  derived  from  Phil.  ii.  7 :  'emptied  Himself.' 

2  This  aspect  of  the  subject  may  be  studied  in  Prof.  A.  B.  Brace's 
Humiliation  of  Christ, 


vii.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  149 

He  shared  the  views  of  his  contemporaries,  e.g.,  on 
such  matters  as  angels  and  demons,  on  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures,  on  all  matters  of  natural 
knowledge.  To  the  '  modern '  theologian,  who 
rejects  the  supernatural  side  of  Christ's  Person 
altogether,  such  a  conception  presents  no  difficulties. 
Jesus,  as  man,  naturally  was  a  child  of  His  age,  and 
shared  its  errors.  On  either  of  these  views,  the 
absoluteness  of  Christ's  revelation  seems  imperilled. 
If  error  inhered  in  Christ's  thoughts  of  God,  man, 
the  world,  sin,  the  Scriptures,  spiritual  existence, 
the  future, — if  His  conceptions  on  these  subjects 
were  naive,  illusory,  cast  in  the  childlike  and  im- 
perfect moulds  which  an  unscientific  age  afforded, — 
what  normative  value  can  be  ascribed  to  them  ? 
They  may  be  beautiful,  but  are  they  true  ?  Must 
not  modern  science  and  philosophy  be  called  in  to 
expurgate  them,  and  tell  us  what  '  kernel '  of  truth 
abides  as  the  result  ?  This  is  an  attitude  with  which 
the  foregoing  representations  are  plainly  incompat- 
ible. 

2.  On  this  subject  the  following  remarks  may 
be  offered  : — 

(1)  That  Christ's  human  knowledge  had  its  limita- 
tions is  a  necessary  corollary  from  His  assumption 
of  a  true  and  real  humanity.  This  must  be  conceded, 
if  the  reality  of  the  incarnation  is  to  be  maintained. 
As  a  babe  in  Bethlehem  Jesus  began  His  earthly 
existence  without  knowledge  of  any  kind.  In 
childhood  and  youth,  He  grew  in  wisdom  as  in 
stature.1  He  made  no  claim  to  omniscience  as  man. 
He  asked  questions  which  implied  lack  of  informa- 
tion.    He   expressly   disclaimed   knowledge   of   the 

1  Luke  ii.  40,  52.     Cf.  Calvin,  in  loe. 


150  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

day  and  hour  of  His  final  advent.1  No  one  who 
thinks  seriously  on  the  subject  will  maintain  that, 
during  His  earthly  life,  Jesus  carried  in  His  con- 
sciousness a  knowledge  of  all  events  of  history, 
past,  present,  and  future,  of  all  arts  and  sciences, 
including  the  results  of  our  modern  astronomies, 
geologies,  biologies,  mathematics,  of  all  languages, 
etc.  To  suppose  this  would  be  to  annul  the  reality 
of  His  human  consciousness  entirely.  The  incarna- 
tion means  that  Jesus,  in  becoming  man,  entered  into 
all  the  conditions  of  a  true  human  life,  growth  and 
development  included.  If  it  be  said  that  the 
knowledge  was  still  there  in  Christ's  omniscience  as 
God,  and  that,  had  He  willed  to  know,  He  would 
have  known  ;  that  it  was  by  voluntary  act  He  did 
not  know ;  it  must  still  be  granted  that,  as  in  the 
deliberate  refusal  to  use  His  miraculous  powers  for 
personal  ends,  so  in  respect  of  any  knowledge  He 
might  have  possessed  beyond  what  the  Father  gave 
Him,  it  was  His  will  not  to  know.  The  limitations 
of  His  human  consciousness  were  not  assumed,  but 
real. 

(2)  Does  this  acknowledged  limitation  of  the 
human  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  ignorance  of  earthly 
science,  imply  error  on  the  part  of  Jesus  ?  This 
is  a  position  which  must  as  strongly  be  contested. 
Ignorance  is  not  error,  nor  does  the  one  thing 
necessarily  imply  the  other.  That  Jesus  should  use 
the  language  of  His  time  on  things  indifferent,  where 
no  judgment  or  pronouncement  of  His  own  was 
involved,  is  readily  understood  ;  that  He  should 
be  the  victim  of  illusion,  or  false  judgment,  on  any 
subject  on  which  He  was  called  to  pronounce,  is  a 

i  Mark  xiii.  32. 


vii.]  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  151 

perilous  assertion.  If  the  matter  be  carefully 
considered,  it  may  be  felt  that  even  sinlessness 
is  hardly  compatible  with  liability  of  the  judgment 
to  error.  False  judgment,  where  moral  questions 
are  involved,  can  hardly  fail  to  issue  in  wrong  action. 
Saul  of  Tarsus  was  sincerely  persuaded  that  Jesus 
was  a  blasphemer,  and  counted  that  he  was  doing 
God  service  in  persecuting  His  followers.1  Suppose 
Jesus  similarly  to  have  erred  in  His  judgment,  in 
regard,  say,  to  the  Pharisees,  and  to  have  included 
in  His  sweeping  condemnations  a  class  which  had 
in  it  many  excellent,  if  somewhat  misguided  indi- 
viduals, would  this  have  involved  no  moral  blame  ? 
This  raises  the  vital  question — Could  Christ,  as  man, 
be  preserved  infallibly  from  error  ?  The  affirmative 
answer  can  only  be  given,  if  it  is  upheld  that,  in 
dealing  with  Jesus,  we  are  truly  dealing,  not  with  an 
ordinary,  but  with  a  supernatural  Person.  Christ's 
was  a  true  manhood,  yet  it  was  the  manhood  of  One 
the  root  of  whose  being  was  in  eternity.  We  are 
becoming  accustomed  to  the  idea  of  '  subliminal 
consciousness ' — of  a  depth  in  personality  from 
which  issue  impulses,  monitions,  intuitions,  of  which 
ordinary  consciousness  can  give  no  explanation. 
The  subliminal  consciousness  in  Jesus  was  Godhead 
itself.  From  it  came  that  fulness  of  knowledge 
and  certainty  regarding  Himself,  the  Father  and 
the  Father's  will,  His  mission  and  work  in  the 
world,  which  constituted  His  peculiar  revelation. 
Is  it  too  much  to  believe  that  there  came  from  it 
also — what  was  equally  essential  for  His  vocation 
— those  regulative  influences  and  that  subtle 
sensitiveness    to    truth    and    error,    which    issued, 

1  Acts  xxvi.  8-11 ;  cf.  John  xvi.  2. 


152  EEVELATION  AND  INSPIKATION  [ch. 

when  judgment  had  to  be  given,  in  sure  and  unerring 
insight  ? 

3.  Two  crucial  cases  may  be  taken  as  instances. 
(1)  The  one  is  Christ's  attitude  to  the  unseen 
spiritual  world.  Jesus  believed  in  angels,  in  Satan, 
in  the  reality  of  demoniacal  influences.  Was  this, 
as  is  commonly  assumed,  illusion,  or  simple  ac- 
commodation to  prevalent  belief  ?  There  is  the 
strongest  ground  for  thinking  it  was  neither.  That 
Jesus  used  popular  and  figurative  language  in 
speaking  of  these  things  proves  nothing  against 
the  reality  of  the  fact.  If  language  has  meaning,  He 
unquestionably  believed  in  a  spiritual  kingdom  of 
evil  whose  power  it  was  His  mission  to  overthrow, 
and  whose  agency  He  recognised  in  the  unhappy 
subjects  of  '  possession.' l  Surely  also  if  there  is 
any  one  thing  in  which  Christ's  intuition  can  be 
trusted,  it  is  in  a  matter  of  this  kind,  which  turns  on 
rapport  with  the  spiritual  world.  That  world,  it 
can  be  confidently  said,  lay  open  to  Him  as  it  did 
to  no  other.  What  He  solemnly  affirmed  of  it 
could  not  be  less  than  truth.  The  modern  world 
may  refuse  to  believe  in  anything  it  cannot  bring  to 
scientific  tests,  and  explain  by  natural — in  this  case 
by  psychological — causes.  But  there  may  be  things 
in  heaven  and  in  earth  which  are  above  even  the 
modern  world's  philosophy,  and  its  eyes  are  perhaps 
opening  a  little  to  discern  that  this  may  be  one  of 
them. 

(2)  The  other  case  is  Christ's  attitude  to  the  Scrip- 
tures.   Are  His  statements  and   declarations   here 

1  It  is  not  the  case  that  all  maladies  are  attributed  to  evil  agency. 
Distinction  is  made  between  ordinary  sickness,  disease,  and  even 
lunacy,  and  possession  (Matt.  iv.  23,  24,  ix.  32-5,  x.  8,  etc.) 


vil]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  153 

to  be  taken  as  authoritative  ?  What  if  modern 
criticism  can  show  that  many  of  them  are  wrong  ? 
Is  the  matter  to  be  dismissed  by  saying  that  it  was 
not  Christ's  mission  to  teach  regarding  such  things  ? 
Or  that  He  simply  adopted  the  current  erroneous 
views  of  His  age  ?  Here  it  may  readily  be  admitted 
that  when  Jesus  used  popular  language  about 
1  Moses '  or  *  Isaiah,'  He  did  nothing  more  than 
designate  certain  books,  and  need  not  be  understood 
as  giving  ex  cathedra  judgments  on  the  intricate 
critical  questions  which  the  contents  of  these  books 
raise.  Had  such  questions  been  proposed  to  Him 
for  decision,  He  would  probably  have  dealt  with 
them  as  He  did  with  the  appeal  about  inheritance  : 
'  Man,  who  made  Me  a  judge  or  a  divider  over  you  ?  ' l 
But  Jesus  unquestionably  did  believe  in  the  Old 
Testament  as  the  inspired  record  of  God's  revela- 
tions in  the  past, — did  believe  in  the  essential 
historicity  of  its  contents, — did  believe  in  Moses 
and  his  writings, — did  believe  in  the  law, — did 
believe  that  psalms  and  prophets  pointed  forward 
with  unerring  finger  to  Himself.2  Was  it  Jesus 
who  was  wrong  in  this  ?  Or  is  it  criticism,  so  far  as 
criticism  denies  these  things  ?  Jesus  certainly  had 
no  more  knowledge  of  the  methods  and  processes 
of  modern  criticism  than  He  had  of  modern  astro- 
nomy or  geology.  But  this  does  not  imply  that  He 
was  mistaken  in  His  judgment  on  the  Scriptures. 
The  error  lies  in  supposing  that  the  only  way  of  being 
assured  of  the  truth  of  the  revelation  of  God  in  the 
Scriptures  is  by  modern  critical  study.  Jesus, 
through  His  possession  in  its  fulness  of  the  Spirit 
that  wrought  in  that  earlier  revelation,  went  with 
1  Luke  xii.  14.  2  Luke  xvi.  31,  John  v.  45-7,  etc 


154  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

unerring  certainty  to  the  very  heart  of  it.  He  not 
only  penetrated  to  its  truth,  but  intuitively  per- 
ceived the  inner  connection  of  truth  and  history. 
Essential  truth  to  Jesus  implied  historical  truth. 
The  truths  of  God's  revelation  were  not  in  the  air. 
They  became  the  possession  of  mankind  through 
real  events  and  real  acts  of  God.  Revelation,  in 
a  word,  was  historical.  Hence  the  confidence  with 
which  Jesus  uses  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  and 
continually  appeals  to  them  as  the  word  of  God. 
This,  it  is  granted,  does  not  settle  purely  literary 
questions.  But  many  literary  questions  are  settled 
in  principle  when  the  Scriptures  are  approached  aa 
Jesus  approached  them. 


viii.]        REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  155 


CHAPTER   VIII 

REVELATION  AND  ITS  RECORD — INSPIRATION 

The  proposition  may  be  laid  down,  that,  if  a  revela- 
tion has  been  given,  it  is  natural  and  reasonable  to 
expect  that  a  record  will  be  made  or  kept  of  the 
stages  of  that  revelation,  either  by  its  immediate 
recipients,  or  by  those  who  stand  within  the  circle 
of  the  revelation,  and  are  possessed  in  an  eminent 
degree  of  its  Spirit.  While  the  necessity  of  such  a 
record,  if  revelation  is  not  altogether  to  fail  of  its 
object,  cannot  of  itself  prove  the  existence  of  a  code 
of  sacred  writings,  it  creates  a  presumption  of  their 
existence,  and  powerfully  supports  the  claim  of  a 
body  of  Scriptures  professing  to  satisfy  this  require- 
ment, and  actually  presenting  qualities  answering 
to  their  claim. 

I.  Preliminary  Positions. 

A  first  point  in  the  above  proposition  is,  that, 
if  a  revelation  has  been  given  by  God,  it  is  reasonable 
to  expect  that  provision  will  be  made  for  the  'preserva- 
tion of  the  knowledge  of  the  revelation  in  some 
permanent  and  authoritative  form.  Otherwise  the 
object  in  giving  the  revelation  would  be  frus- 
trated. The  means  of  the  transmission  of  know- 
ledge may  be  oral,  so  long  as  oral  tradition,  combined 
with  careful  instruction,1  can  be  depended  on  ;    or 

i  Exod.  xii.  26,  27  ;  Deut.  vi.  7,  20  ff.,  lxxviii.  3,  4 ;  Luke  i.  1,  2, 
etc. ;  Gen.  xviii.  19. 


156  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

it  may  be  partly  oral  and  partly  documentary ;  or 
it  may  be  documentary  from  the  beginning.  It 
may  not  be  possible  now  to  trace  all  the  links  in 
this  process  of  transmission ;  but  the  product  may 
bear  in  itself  evidence  that  the  result  intended  has 
been  surely  accomplished. 

Other  points  assumed  in  this  proposition  are  that 
the  record  of  His  revelation  which  God  gives  will  be 
made  either  ( 1 )  by  the  original  recipients  of  the  revela- 
tions (e.g.,  the  prophets  wrote  their  own  books,  Paul 
his  own  Epistles,  John  his  own  Gospel)  ;  or  (2)  by 
those  who  stand  within  the  circle  of  the  revelation 
{e.g.,  Mark  and  Luke  belonged  to  the  immediate 
apostolic  circle)  ;  and  (3)  that  those  who  produce 
the  record  possess  in  an  eminent  degree  the  Spirit 
of  the  revelation,  and  are  fitted  by  insight  and 
sympathy  to  produce  the  kind  of  record  that  is 
required  for  the  purposes  in  view. 

A  yet  more  fundamental  assumption  underlying 
the  proposition  is,  that  there  is,  and  has  been  from 
the  beginning,  a  Holy  Spirit  in  the  community  of 
believers  who  can  and  does  confer  these  qualifica- 
tions. The  denial  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  com- 
munity of  God's  people  may  fitly  be  described  as 
the  primal  heresy — the  heresy  of  all  heresies — in  the 
Christian  Church.  Scripture  assumes  as  axiomatic 
a  presence  and  work  of  the  Spirit  from  its  first  page 
to  its  last. 

II.  Extension  of  the  Idea  of  Eevelation. 

When  the  question  is  raised  of  the  relation  of 
revelation  to  its  record,  it  is  first  to  be  noted  that 
an  important  extension  must  be  made  of  the  idea 


viii.]         REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  157 

of  revelation — an  extension  carrying  us  much 
beyond  the  scope  of  the  previous  discussion.  This 
in  several  respects. 

1.  It  is  obvious  that  the  word  must  here  be  taken 
as  including,  not  only  direct  divine  acts  and  com- 
munications, but  the  whole  divinely -guided  history 
of  the  people  of  Israel,  and,  in  the  New  Testament, 
the  apostolic  action  in  the  founding  of  the  Church. 
Here  again  the  principle  of  the  co-operation  of  divine 
providence  with  revelation  for  the  subserving  of  the 
ends  of  the  latter  finds  application.1  To  providence 
must  be  entrusted  the  securing  and  preserving  of 
such  materials  as  are  necessary  for  a  proper  pre- 
sentation of  the  history.  These  materials  need  not 
be  the  work  of  inspired  men,  but  may  come  through 
the  ordinary  channels  of  information — may  consist 
of  traditions,  monuments,  state  records,  genealogies, 
etc.,  as  well  as  written  narratives.  Inspiration  is 
seen  in  the  use  made  of  these  materials,  not  in  the 
providing  of  them. 

2.  A  further  step  is  taken  when  it  is  observed  that 
revelation  ('  unveiling  '),  in  this  wider  sense,  must 
be  held  to  include  the  insight  given  by  the  divine 
Spirit  into  the  meaning  of  the  history,  through  which 
holy  men  are  enabled  to  write  it  for  the  instruction 
of  all  ages.2  It  is  analogous  to,  though,  as  befitted 
their  special  task,  a  higher  degree  of,  that  '  Spirit 
of  wisdom  and  revelation  '  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ 
which  is  bestowed  on  all  Christians  3 — a  form  of 
the  revelation  of  illumination  applied  to  the  laws 
and  workings  of  God's  providence  in  the  accomplish- 
ing of  the  ends  of   His  kingdom.     The  prophetic 

i  See  above,  p.  23.  2  i  Cor.  x.  11  ;  2  Pet.  i.  20-21. 

3  Eph.  i.  17. 


158  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

insight  is  of  necessity  much  deeper  than  that  of  the 
ordinary  believer,  because  it  is  prophetic — a  special 
endowment  of  the  Spirit  of  revelation  for  a  special 
end. 

3.  It  is,  however,  not  simply  the  history  of  revela- 
tion on  its  divine  side  which  is  of  spiritual  interest, 
but  the  human  reception  also  of  that  revelation, 
and  the  actings  of  the  human  spirit  under  its 
influence,  and  in  response  to  it,  which  are  to  be  taken 
into  account.  This  also  is  a  necessary  part  of  the 
unfolding  of  the  meaning  of  revelation.  In  other 
words,  there  is  needed,  in  a  book  which  is  to  be  the 
record  of  divine  revelation,  not  only  the  record  of 
what  may  be  called  its  external  historical  course, 
but  the  record  of  its  internal  history  in  the  life  and 
experience  of  souls  that  have  grasped  its  meaning, 
and  felt  its  power.  What,  for  instance,  would  the 
record  of  revelation  be  in  the  Old  Testament  without 
the  Book  of  Psalms  ? 

It  begins  to  be  evident  that  a  record  of  revelation 
in  the  broad  sense  includes  a  great  deal  more  than 
the  divine  acts  and  communication,  or  even  the 
history,  with  which  we  began.  It  includes  psalms, 
songs,  wisdom-teaching,  Epistles, — records  of  human 
doubt,  struggle,  temptation,  victory,  —  sections 
which  unfold  the  principles  of  revelation,  apply 
and  enforce  them,  turn  them  into  subjects  of  praise, 
deal  with  them  reflectively  as  doctrine.  All  this, 
too,  in  a  very  important  sense,  is  revelation.  A 
very  weighty  conclusion  follows.  We  began  rightly 
by  distinguishing  between  revelation  and  the  record 
of  revelation.  There  is  an  important  truth  in  that 
distinction,  for  it  marks  the  fact  that  there  is  an 
objective  revelation  in  divine  acts  and  words  prior 


viii.]         REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  159 

to  any  written  record.  But  we  have  now  found  that 
the  line  between  revelation  and  its  record  is  becoming 
very  thin,  and  that,  in  another  true  sense,  the  record, 
in  the  fulness  of  its  contents,  is  itself  for  us  the 
revelation.  There  are  parts  of  the  revelation — some 
of  the  prophetic  discourses,  e.g.,  or  the  Epistles — 
which  never  existed  in  any  but  written  form.  But 
the  record  as  a  whole  is  the  revelation — God's 
complete  word — for  us.  Its  sufficiency  is  implied 
in  the  fact  that  beyond  it  we  do  not  need  to  travel 
to  find  God's  whole  will  for  our  salvation. 

III.  Inspiration — the  Biblical  Conception. 

We  are  thus  brought  to  the  particular  consideration 
of  the  much-debated  subject  of  inspiration — a  subject 
in  the  treatment  of  which,  all  will  allow,  peculiar 
difficulties  emerge. 

Two  methods  present  themselves  in  dealing  with 
this  subject. 

1.  We  might  analyse,  as  has  often  been  done, 
the  testimony  of  Scripture  to  its  own  inspiration, 
then  proceed  to  inquire  how  far  the  facts  agree  with 
this  testimony.     Or — 

2.  We  may  begin  with  the  facts  which  illustrate 
the  nature  of  inspiration,  as  seen  in  the  book  itself, 
then  endeavour  to  show  how  this  agrees  with  the 
witness  of  Scripture  to  itself. 

For  the  end  at  present  in  view  the  latter  is  the 
preferable  course.  It  assumes  nothing,  and  is  not 
open  to  the  objection  of  forcing  the  phenomena  of 
Scripture  into  harmony  with  any  preconceived 
theory.  Still,  some  indication  of  the  general  view 
taken  of  inspiration  by  the  Biblical  writers  cannot 


1G0  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

be  wholly  omitted.  It  may  surprise  those  who  have 
not  looked  into  the  subject  with  care  to  discover 
how  strong,  full,  and  pervasive,  the  testimony  of 
Scripture  to  its  own  inspiration  is.  Meanwhile  it 
may  suffice  to  recall  the  summary  which  the  apostle 
gives  of  the  qualities  imparted  by  inspiration  to 
Scripture  in  what  may  be  called  the  classical  passage 
on  the  subject — that,  viz.,  in  2  Tim.  iii.  15-17. 

Comparing  this  passage  as  it  stands  in  the  Author- 
ised Version  with  the  form  it  has  in  the  Revised 
Version,  it  will  be  observed  that  certain  important 
changes  are  made  in  the  latter. 

1.  In  verse  15,  the  words  *  Holy  Scriptures '  are 
more  correctly  translated  '  sacred  writings.'  The 
terms  (ra  lepa  ypd/jifj,aTa)  are  different  from 
those  used  in  ver.  16,  '  every  Scripture '  (iraaa  ypa<f>rj) 
The  verse  then  reads  :  '  That  from  a  babe  thou 
hast  known  the  sacred  writings  which  are  able  to 
make  thee  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  which 
is  in  Christ  Jesus.' 

2.  Instead  of  the  translation,  '  All  Scripture  is 
given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable,'  etc. 
the  alternative  rendering  is  preferred :  '  Every 
Scripture  inspired  of  God  is  also  profitable,'  etc. 
The  R.  V.  margin,  however,  retains :  4  Every 
Scripture  is  inspired  of  God,  and  profitable,'  etc. 
On  this  it  is  to  be  remarked  that,  whichever  form  is 
adopted,  the  sense  is  not  essentially  altered.  The 
form  '  Every  Scripture  inspired  of  God  is  also  profit- 
able '  may  be  a  broader,  but  it  is  certain  that  it  is 
not  intended  to  be  a  narrower,  form  of  statement 
than  the  other.  The  apostle  assuredly  does  not 
mean  to  draw  a  distinction  between  a  Scripture 
which   is   inspired,   and  a   Scripture  which   is  not 


viii.]        REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  161 

inspired,  or  to  suggest  that  any  of  the  *  sacred 
writings  '  of  the  previous  verse  fall  into  the  latter 
category.1  Such  an  idea  is  totally  foreign  to  his 
thought.  What  he  plainly  means  is  that  '  every 
Scripture/  as  being  inspired  (OeoTrvevaros),  is  also 
profitable. 

3.  That  for  which  inspired  Scripture  is  '  profitable  ' 
is  thus  described  :  '  For  teaching,  for  reproof,  for 
correction,  for  instruction  in  righteousness ;  that 
the  man  of  God  may  be  complete,  furnished  com- 
pletely into  every  good  work.' 

The  doctrine  of  the  passage,  then,  may  be  thus 
briefly  summed  up  : — 

(1)  There  is  a  collection  of  '  sacred  writings ' 
which  Timothy  had  known  from  his  childhood. 
These  are,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures. 

(2)  The  contents  of  these  books  were  able  to 
make  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ.  To  Him  they  pointed  ;  in  Him  they  were 
fulfilled  ;  in  the  light  of  His  appearance  and  salvation 
they  were  now  read. 

(3)  The  Scriptures  included  in  this  collection 
were  c  God-inspired  ' — more  broadly,  '  every  Scrip- 
ture,' which  may  include  a  Gospel  like  Luke's  (cf. 
1  Tim.  v.  18),  or  even  Paul's  own  Epistles  (cf.  2  Pet. 
hi.  15). 

(4)  As  having  this  character,  the  Scriptures  were 
profitable  for  teaching,  etc.,  and  had  as  their  end 
'  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  complete,  furnished 
completely  unto  every  good  work.'  There  is  no  want 
of  the  spiritual  life  which  they  did  not  meet. 

Paul,  it  will  be  observed,  does  not  give  any  descrip- 

1  Cf.  Sanday,  Inspiration,  pp.  88,  89. 
L 


162  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

tion  of  the  nature  or  degree  of  the  inspiration  he 
attributes  to  the  Old  Testament  (or  other)  Scriptures. 
He  does  not,  e.g.,  say  that  it  secured  verbal  inerrancy 
in  ordinary  historical,  geographical,  chronological, 
or  scientific  matters.  But  (1)  it  seems  at  least  clearly 
implied  that  there  was  no  error  which  could  inter- 
fere with  or  nullify  the  utility  of  Scripture  for  the 
ends  specified ;  and  (2)  the  qualities  which  inspira- 
tion is  said  to  impart  to  Scripture,  rendering  it 
profitable  in  so  great  and  rich  a  degree,  make  it  clear 
that  the  inspiration  itself  was  of  a  high  and  excep- 
tional kind. 


IV.  Inspiration  and  the  Eecord. 
(A)  The  Person. 

With  these  general  determinations  in  view,  we  now 
proceed  to  an  examination  of  the  fact  of  inspiration 
as  that  meets  us  in  the  actual  phenomena  of  Scripture. 
The  chief  question  which  invites  attention  here  is 
the  general  relation  to  inspiration  of  its  record.  The 
nature  of  this  relation  has  already  been  indicated  in 
speaking  of  the  record  of  revelation  as  made,  either 
by  the  original  recipients  of  the  revelation,  or  by 
those  who  stood  within  the  circle  of  revelation,  and 
were  possessed  in  a  special  degree  of  its  Spirit.  The 
subject  must  now  be  more  closely  investigated. 

A  first  question  arises  as  to  the  relation  of  the 
inspired  person  to  the  record.  Scripture  is  spoken 
of  as  '  God-inspired '  ;  but  it  is  important  to  notice 
that  inspiration  belongs  primarily  to  the  person, 
and  to  the  book  only  as  it  is  the  product  of  the 
inspired  person.  There  is  no  inspiration  inhering 
literally  in  the  paper,  ink,  or  type,  of  the  sacred 


vin.]         REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  163 

volume.  The  inspiration  was  in  the  soul  of  the 
writer  ;  the  qualities  that  are  communicated  to  the 
writing  had  their  seat  first  in  the  mind  or  heart  of 
the  man  who  wrote.  It  is  on  the  mind,  heart, 
faculties  of  the  man  that  the  Spirit  works  :  the 
work  is  inspired  as  coming  from  his  thought  and  pen, 
and  as  having  the  power  of  quickening  and  awaken- 
ing a  like  glow  of  soul  in  those  who  read.  This  is 
seen  very  clearly  in  considering  the  inspiration  of 
genius,  as  it  appears,  e.g.,  in  the  works  of  a  Shake- 
speare, a  Milton,  or  a  Goethe.  The  inspiration  in 
these  cases  is  in  the  souls  of  the  men,  and  only 
derivatively  in  their  writings. 

V.  (B)  Materials  of  the  Record. 

A  more  difficult  question  arises  with  respect 
to  the  relation  of  inspiration  to  the  materials  of  the 
record.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  hear  inspiration 
spoken  of  as  if  it  rendered  the  subject  of  it  superior 
to  ordinary  sources  of  information,  or  at  least  was 
at  hand  to  supply  supernaturally  all  gaps  or  de- 
ficiencies in  that  information.  The  records  of  the 
Bible  have  only  to  be  studied  as  they  lie  before  us 
to  show  that  this  is  an  entire  mistake.  It  was  said 
above  that  it  is  reasonable  to  expect  that,  if  God 
has  given  a  revelation,  He  will  provide  for  the  know- 
ledge of  that  revelation  being  preserved,  and  handed 
down  in  its  purity.  The  facts  warrant  us  in  saying 
that  this  has  been  actually  done.  But  this,  as  has 
likewise  been  pointed  out,  and  as  the  most  conser- 
vative writers  will  admit,  is  the  work  of  providence 
rather  than  of  inspiration.  Inspiration  does  not  in 
any  case  create  the  fact-materials  it  works  with. 
It  works  with  the  materials  it  has  received.     Its 


164  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

presence  reveals  itself  in  the  use  it  makes  of  the 
materials,  and  in  the  insight  it  shows  into  their 
meaning.  This  will  be  seen  by  looking  more  care- 
fully at  the  nature  of  these  materials. 

1.  In  historical  matters  it  is  evident  that  inspira- 
tion is  dependent  for  its  knowledge  of  facts  on  the 
ordinary  channels  of  information — on  older  docu- 
ments, on  oral  tradition,  on  public  registers,  on 
genealogical  lists,  etc.  No  sober-minded  defender 
of  inspiration  would  now  think  of  denying  this 
proposition.  One  has  only  to  look  into  the  Biblical 
books  to  discover  the  abundant  proof  of  it.  The 
claim  made  is  that  the  sources  of  information  are 
good,  trustworthy,  not  that  inspiration  lifts  the 
writer  above  the  need  of  dependence  on  them.  In 
the  Old  Testament,  for  instance,  reference  is  con- 
stantly made  to  older  or  contemporary  writings  as 
authorities  for  the  information  given  as  to  the  acts 
of  the  various  kings.  Thus,  for  the  history  of 
David,  reference  is  made  to  three  works — the  Book 
of  Samuel  the  Seer,  the  Book  of  Nathan  the 
Prophet,  the  Book  of  Gad  the  Seer.1  For  numerous 
reigns  extracts  are  given  from  '  the  Book  of  the 
Chronicles  of  the  Kings  of  Israel  '2  (or  '  of  the  Kings 
of  Judah,'  or  '  of  the  Kings  of  Israel  and  Judah '). 
The  Books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  embody  gene- 
alogies (thus  also  Chronicles),  letters  of  Persian 
kings,  and  other  documents.3    The  Gospel  of  Luke,  in 

1  1  Chron.  xxix.  20 ;  cf.  on  Solomon,  2  Chron.  ix.  29 ;  on  Keho- 
boam,  2  Chron.  xii.  15,  etc. 

2  The  quotations  from  this  large  work,  under  one  or  other  of  its 
titles,  occur  more  than  thirty  times  in  the  Books  of  Kings  {e.g., 
1  Kings,  xiv.  19,  xvi.  20).  Also  repeatedly  in  the  Books  of 
Chronicles  (2  Chron.  xx.  34,  xxvii.  7,  etc. ). 

3  Ezra  ii.  22,  iv.  8-22,  viii.  1,  etc.,  Neh.  vii.  5,  64,  etc. 


viii.]         REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  165 

the  New  Testament,  explains  distinctly  the  manner 
in  which  that  book  was  composed,  viz.,  by  accurate 
research  into  those  things  which  had  been  delivered 
to  the  Church  by  first-hand  witnesses.  '  Foras- 
much,' says  the  evangelist,  '  as  many  have  taken  in 
hand  to  draw  up  a  narrative  concerning  those  matters 
which  have  been  fulfilled  among  us,  even  as  they 
delivered  them  unto  us,  who  from  the  beginning 
were  eyewitnesses  and  ministers  of  the  word,  it 
seemed  good  to  me  also,  having  traced  the  course 
of  all  things  accurately  from  the  first,  to  write  unto 
thee  in  order,  most  excellent  Theophilus,  that  thou 
mightest  know  the  certainty  concerning  the  things 
wherein  thou  wast  instructed.' 2  Where  sources 
of  information  fail,  or  where,  as  may  sometimes 
happen,  there  are  lacunae,  or  blots,  or  misreadings 
of  names,  or  errors  of  transcription,  such  as  are 
incidental  to  the  transmission  of  all  MSS.,  it  is  not 
to  be  supposed  that  supernatural  information  is 
granted  to  supply  the  lack.2  Where  this  is  frankly 
acknowledged,  inspiration  is  cleared  from  a  great 
many  of  the  difficulties  which  misapprehension  has 
attached  to  it. 

2.  This  principle  applies  not  only  to  historic,  but 
to  prehistoric  times,  where  written  records  altogether 
fail.  It  does  not  follow  that  a  sound  tradition  in 
essential  things  may  not  have  been  preserved  from 
the  beginning.  On  the  Biblical  representation  of 
man's  origin  and  relation  to  God,  and  of  a  line  of 
blessing  from  the  earliest  age,  it  may  be  presumed 
that  it  would  be.  But  that  tradition  will  necessarily 
differ  in  character  from  the  tradition  of  historical 
times,  when  language,  arts,  and  letters  are  in  some 
i  Luke  i.  1-4.  *  See  further  below,  pp.  179-80. 


166  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

degree  developed.  It  will  be  couched  in  part  in 
the  forms  of  thought  and  speech  characteristic  of 
the  childhood  of  the  world.  As  the  hieroglyphic 
precedes  alphabetic  writing,  so  the  media  of  trans- 
mission of  the  knowledge  of  events  will  be  of  necessity 
poetical,  symbolical,  pictorial,  imaginative.  This 
is  to  be  distinguished  from  '  myth,'  which  is  a  pure 
creation  of  the  imagination,  and  not  the  medium  of 
the  knowledge  of  an  actual  transaction.  The 
example  in  Scripture  is  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis. 
The  theory  at  present  prevailing,  that  these  chapters 
— the  story  of  creation  and  paradise,  antediluvian 
lists,  flood,  etc. — are  based  on  Babylonian  myths, 
appropriated  and  purified  by  the  spirit  of  revelation 
in  Israel,  falls  below  the  mark  of  dignity  in  the 
narratives.  It  is  truer  to  regard  them  as  the 
embodiments  of  the  earliest  and  most  precious 
traditions  of  the  race,  in  the  purer  form  in  which 
they  descended  through  the  ancestors  of  the  Hebrew 
people.  They  may,  however,  be  ancient,  and  yet  bear 
traces  of  transmission  in  a  more  or  less  allegorical 
or  symbolical  form.  Few,  e.g.,  will  be  disposed  to 
take  literally  the  account  of  the  making  of  Eve  out 
of  the  rib  taken  from  Adam's  side  while  he  slept.1 
The  story  of  the  Fall,  again,  may  well  be  the  account 
of  an  actual  historical  catastrophe  in  the  commence- 
ment of  the  race,  in  its  cradle  in  the  region  of  the 
Tigris  and  Euphrates.9-  Truths  of  eternal  moment 
may  be  enshrined,  it  is  believed  are,  in  its  simple 
narrative.  Yet,  with  many  of  the  most  devout 
expounders  of  the  story,  we  can  hardly  err  in  seeing 
symbolical  elements,  or  an  allegorical  dress,  in  the 
features  of  the  serpent,   the  trees,   the  cherubim. 

i  Gen.  ii.  21-5.  2  Gen.  ii.  8-15. 


viii.]         REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  167 

The  cherubim,  throughout  Scripture,  are  ideal 
figures.1  While,  again,  remarkable  longevity  may 
have  been,  and  probably  was,  characteristic  of  the 
oldest  race  of  men,  there  is,  even  in  the  most  con- 
servative circles,  a  growing  consensus  of  opinion  that 
the  early  genealogies  cannot  be  interpreted  with 
modern  literality — that  chronology  demands  an  ex- 
tensive lengthening  of  the  pre-Abrahamic  period, 
and  that  the  names  given  in  the  lists  stand  rather 
for  representatives  of  tribes,  or  clans,  or  for  heads 
of  families,  than  for  individuals.2  The  genealogies 
also  are  obviously  reduced  to  a  technical  scheme 
in  which  many  links  may  be  omitted.  These 
chapters,  nevertheless,  embody  valuable  ancient 
material,  picturing  the  earliest  age  of  humanity, 
and  conveying  profound  truths,  which  inspiration 
can  appropriate,  and  utilise  for  its  own  ends. 

The  words  of  Herder  on  these  early  chapters  of 
Genesis  may  here  be  recalled.  '  This  is  a  wonder,' 
he  says,  '  to  which  the  worshippers  of  reason  have 
not  yet  given  a  name — the  story  of  the  fall  of  the 
first  man.  Is  it  allegory — history — fable  ?  And 
yet  there  it  stands,  following  the  account  of  the 
Creation,  one  of  the  pillars  of  Hercules,  beyond 
which  there  is  nothing — the  point  from  which  all 
succeeding  history  starts.  .  .  .  And  yet,  ye  dear, 
most  ancient  and  undying  traditions  of  my  race — 
ye  are  the  very  kernel  and  germ  of  its  most  hidden 
history.     Without  you,   mankind  would   be,   what 

1  On  the  cherubim,  cf.,  as  an  older  writer,  Dr.  P.  Fairbairn, 
Typology  of  Scripture,  i.  pp.  222  ff. 

a  Cf.,  e.g.,  Dr.  A.  A.  Hodge,  Outlines  of  Theology  (1879),  p.  297; 
Dr.  W.  H.  Green,  Bib.  Sacra,  April  1890 ;  Dr.  J.  D.  Davis,  in  his 
Diet,  of  Bible,  art.  'Chronology.' 


168  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

so  many  other  things  are — a  book  without  a  title, 
without  the  first  leaves  and  introduction.  With 
you  our  race  receives  a  foundation,  a  stem  and  root, 
even  in  God  and  in  father  Adam.' x 

This  principle  applies,  finally,  to  the  relations  of 
inspiration  to  scientific  knowledge.  The  Bible  is 
not,  nor  was  ever  intended  to  be,  an  anticipative 
text-book  of  science.  This  is  evident  on  the  face 
of  it.  Where  natural  phenomena  are  described,  it 
is  as  they  appear  to  the  natural  observer.  There  is 
no  pretence  of  acquaintance  with  our  modern 
astronomy,  geology,  physics,  or  biology ;  or  with 
modern  scientific  classifications  of  plants  and 
animals.  The  standpoint  is  religious — the  creation 
of  the  world  by  God,  its  dependence  on  Him,  His 
universal  activity  in  it  and  providence  over  it. 
These  conceptions  stand  on  a  distinct  footing  from 
details  of  science.  They  have  their  origin  in  no 
source  lower  than  revelation,  and  carry  in  them 
already  the  outlines  of  a  cosmogony  such  as  we  have 
in  the  opening  chapter  of  Genesis.  If  there  is  so 
little  real  conflict — one  would  rather  say  so  remark- 
able a  harmony — between  the  Biblical  representa- 
tions and  science,  it  is  because  the  Bible,  at  the 
outset,  has  got  the  right  standpoint  for  the  contempla- 
tion and  interpretation  of  nature — the  true  key  for 
the  unlocking  of  its  riddle.  Without  seeking  a 
visional  or  other  special  origin  for  the  narrative  in 
Genesis,  this  at  least  may  be  asserted  :  that  the 
sublimity,  freedom  from  mythology,  monotheism, 
and  general  agreement  with  scientific  truth  of  the 
Genesis  account  puts  it  on  a  totally  different  plane 

1  Aelteste  Urkunde  des  Menschengeschlechts  (quoted  by  Auberlen, 
Div.  Revelation,  p.  188,  which  also  consult  on  this  subject). 


vni.]         REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  169 

from  all  heathen  cosmogonies.  It  is  related  to  the 
Babylonian  myth  by  contrast  rather  than  by 
resemblance. 


VI.  (C)  Literary  Form  of  the  Record. 

A  last  question  relates  to  the  relation  of  inspiration 
to  the  literary  form  of  the  record.  The  chief  point 
to  be  laid  stress  on  here,  in  opposition  to  mechanical 
views  of  inspiration — now,  however,  seldom  enter- 
tained— is,  that  inspiration  does  not  annul  any 
power  or  faculty  of  the  human  soul,  but  raises  all 
powers  to  their  highest  activity,  and  stimulates 
them  to  their  freest  exercise.  It  is  not  an  influence 
acting  on  the  soul  as  a  passive  instrument,  as  a  player 
might  draw  music  from  a  harp,  but  a  life  imparted 
to  the  soul  which  quickens  it  to  its  finest  issues. 
It  follows  that  there  is  no  form  of  literature  capable 
of  being  employed  by  the  genius  of  man  which 
inspiration  cannot  employ  as  its  medium.  Every 
one  recognises  this  to  some  extent  in  the  variety  of 
styles  and  forms  of  composition  in  the  Bible.  We 
have  in  its  pages  historical  narrative  and  biography  ; 
poetry  in  psalm,  hymn,  song  ;  gnomic  wisdom  in 
proverbs  ;  didactic  and  doctrinal  composition  in  the 
epistles  ;  hortatory  discourses  and  appeals ;  parable 
and  allegory ;  apocalyptic  vision.  Each  writer  in 
these  departments  has  his  own  style  and  idiosyn- 
crasies of  thought  and  treatment.  His  genius  is 
enkindled,  not  suppressed,  by  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  inspiring  him. 

This  principle  of  the  free  use  by  the  Spirit  of  every 
form  of  literature  will,  in  the  main,  be  accepted  by 
all ;    and  hesitation  need  not  be  felt  in  carrying 


170  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

out  the  principle  to  its  fullest  extent.     Some  have 
scrupled  to  admit  this. 

1.  There  is  the  form  of  drama.  Job,  e.g.,  is  a  great 
dramatic  poem  ;  one  of  the  grandest  in  literature. 
It  turns,  on  the  human  side,  on  the  possibility  of 
disinterested  piety ;  on  the  divine  side,  on  the 
vindication  of  the  divine  righteousness  and  goodness 
in  the  permission  of  the  sufferings  of  the  righteous. 
Its  plan  is  carried  through  in  a  prologue,  setting 
forth  the  theme  of  the  Book  ;  in  dialogues  between 
Job  and  his  friends,  in  the  noblest  style  of  poetry  ; 
and  in  an  epilogue,  restoring  the  union  of  virtue 
and  happiness  in  the  return  of  Job's  prosperity. 
Inspiration  could  not  have  found  a  nobler  medium 
for  the  inculcation  of  its  lesson  ;  yet  some  have 
shrunk  from  admitting  the  dramatic  form  of  the 
work,  lest  it  should  detract  from  the  truthfulness 
of  its  contents.  One  has  only  to  ask — How  could 
an  accurate  report  of  these  long,  sustained  discourses 
be  obtained  or  preserved  ?  to  see  the  untenableness 
of  the  opposite  supposition. 

2.  There  is,  again,  the  form  of  composition  which 
consists  in  presenting  a  theme  in  the  dress  of  a  speech 
or  treatise  of  some  person  of  repute.  Few,  probably, 
will  dispute  that  this  is  a  legitimate  mode  of  com- 
position, if  used  simply  as  a  literary  form,  without 
attempt  to  deceive.  As  such  it  is  often  employed  in 
ordinary  literature.  No  one,  e.g.,  objects  to  such 
a  work  as  Landor's  Imaginary  Conversations.  Where, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  deliberate  attempt  to 
deceive  by  passing  off  one  man's  work  as  the  pro- 
duction of  another,  as  in  Macpherson's  Ossian,  the 
practice  is  condemned.  It  is  '  forgery.'  The  same 
principle    must    be    applied    in    judging    of    Holy 


viil]        EEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  171 

Scripture.  If  a  writing  is  intended  to  deceive, 
there  is  pseudonymity  in  the  bad  sense,  and  this, 
one  cannot  but  judge,  the  Spirit  of  inspiration  must 
exclude.  Simply  as  a  form  of  literary  composition 
no  legitimate  exception  can  be  taken  to  it.  Critics 
as  conservative  in  tendency  as  Hengstenberg  and 
Keil,  e.g.,  admit  this  to  be  the  character  of  the  Book 
of  Ecclesiastes.  The  Book  is  a  didactic  work 
composed  in  the  name  of  Solomon.  Most  modern 
critics  regard  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy  as  either  a 
free  literary  composition  of  this  kind,  or  at  least  a 
free  reproduction  of  speeches  traditionally  attributed 
to  Moses.  Many  things,  however,  have  to  be  taken 
into  account  before  this  can,  to  the  extent  claimed, 
be  conceded :  the  testimony  of  the  Book  itself,  the 
archaic  character  of  its  contents,  the  circumstances 
of  its  discovery,  its  unequivocal  acceptance  as  a  Book 
of  Moses  in  the  age  of  Josiah.1  Many  who  take  this 
view  frankly  stamp  the  Book  as  a  pseudograph. 
This  would,  on  the  principle  here  stated,  be  fatal  to 
its  inspiration.  It  is  sounder  to  argue  that  the 
manifest  inspiration  of  the  Book  affords  warrant  for 
the  rejection  of  the  theory  of  its  fraudulent  character.2 
3.  Under  this  principle  of  dramatic  representation 
may  be  brought  the  didactic  expansions  of  speeches, 
as  in  the  Books  of  Chronicles — the  speech  of  Abijah,3 
for  example — where  the  homiletic  aim  of  the  book 
has  to  be  considered.  In  modern  preaching  on  the 
characters  and  events  of  the  Bible  the  same  thing  is 
continually  witnessed.  Scenes  are  depicted ;  and 
the  thoughts,  feelings,  and  supposed  actions  of  the 

1  Cf.  Problem  of  the  0.  T. ,  ch.  viii. 

3  The  same  remark  may  apply  to  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter. 

*  2  Chron.  xiii.  1-12. 


172  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

persons  are  dramatically  exhibited.1  The  genius 
of  the  Hebrew  language  in  using  direct  speech 
('He  said,'  'Then  answered  they,'  etc.),  where  a 
modern  would  use  the  indirect  form  (oratio  obliqua), 
not  professing  to  give  the  exact  words,  contributed  to 
this  form  of  composition.  Especially  is  this  dramatic 
form  of  narration  inevitable  in  matters  handed 
down  by  oral  tradition,  and  acquiring  a  particular 
form  by  repeated  telling.  There  is  no  more 
charming  idyll  than  the  story  of  the  meeting  of 
Abraham's  servant  with  Rebekah  in  Gen.  xxiv. 
But  certainly  there  was  no  stenographer  at  the  well- 
mouth  or  in  Laban's  house  to  take  down  verbatim 
reports  of  the  conversations  between  the  parties. 
This  does  not  militate  against  the  exquisite  literary 
form,  or  essential  truth,  of  the  narrative,  but  it 
means  that  the  form  in  which  it  reached  the  narrator 
was  that  which  it  had  acquired  in  long-preserved 
tradition.  Still  less  can  it  be  claimed  that  verbatim 
reports  are  preserved  of  conversations  in  Eden, 
or  from  days  before  the  Flood.  The  substance 
belongs  to  antiquity ;  the  form  is  that  assumed 
in  traditional  transmission. 

4.  Another  literary  form  frequently  used  in 
Scripture — pre-eminently  in  the  discourses  of  Jesus 
— is  parable,  and,  as  before  seen,  commentators  are 
not  a  little  exercised  as  to  whether  some  of  the 
descriptions  in  the  prophets — e.g.,  Hos.  i. — given  in 
the  form  of  narrative,  are  not  really  parabolic  or 
visionary.  Many  modern  interpreters  maintain 
that  the  Book  of  Jonah,  with  its  story  of  '  the  great 
fish,'  is  really,  and  in  design,  a  parabolic  work.    With- 

1  The  late  D.  L.  Moody  was  an  expert  at  this  dramatic  form  of 
Biblical  story-telling. 


viii.]        EEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  173 

out  questioning  that  parable  is,  for  prophetic 
purposes,  an  admissible  form  of  teaching,  one 
would  like  to  feel  surer  that  the  application  of  the 
principle  in  this  case  is  not  simply  a  way  of  escaping 
from  a  felt  difficulty  in  the  contents  of  the  Book. 
The  Book  of  Jonah  teaches  certainly  the  loving 
regard  of  God  for  the  heathen,  but  it  is  in  no  way 
clear  that  the  Book  is  intended  as  a  parable  to 
teach  this  lesson  ;  still  less  that  the  fish  incident  is 
an  allegory  of  the  swallowing  up  of  Israel  by  heathen- 
ism, etc.  Chap.  ii.  apart,  the  Book — entirely  different 
in  cast  from  the  Jewish  '  Haggada  ' — reads  like  a 
piece  of  serious  history,  and  is,  so  far  as  one  can  see, 
meant  to  be  so  accepted.  There  is  a  verisimi- 
litude in  the  account  of  Jonah's  preaching  in  Nine- 
veh which  forbids  its  rejection  off-hand  as  fiction. 
Ch.  i.  17 ;  ii.  10  has  a  different  character,  and  may 
be  emblematic  of  some  deliverance,  the  exact  nature 
of  which  was  not  known,  but  the  memory  of  which 
is  preserved  in  the  verses  of  the  psalm  (ii.  1-9). 
But  many  will  feel  that  they  could  accept  even  the 
difficulty  of  the  '  fish  '  more  readily  than  they  could 
reject  the  historicity  of  the  entire  book.  Emblem  or 
history,  the  incident  appears  in  the  New  Testament 
as  the  foreshadowing  of  a  greater  event  than  itself — 
a  '  sign.' l 

5.  A  more  delicate  point  arises  when  it  is  asked 
how  far  legend  may  be  employed  by  inspiration  as  a 
vehicle  of  instruction.  Here  again  there  is  room 
for  distinction.  Legend  in  itself  is  a  legitimate 
form  of  literature,  and  few  preachers  or  orators 
would  hesitate  to  introduce  a  beautiful  or  appro- 
priate legend  to  adorn  their  speech  or  convey  a  moral. 

i  Matt.  xii.  39-41. 


174  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

What  is  open  to  the  preacher  now  in  proclaiming 
the  word  of  God  can  hardly  be  thought  of  as  inad- 
missible to  the  divine  Spirit  in  preparing  a  Scripture 
for  the  world.  There  is,  however,  a  very  clear 
difference  between  the  use  of  legend  for  ornament, 
or  for  purely  literary  purposes,  and  the  passing  off  of 
legend  as  a  substitute  for  historic  truth.  A  literary 
use  of  legend  may  be  permissible ; x  it  may  be  not 
unlawful,  even,  to  use  narratives  into  which  legendary 
elements  have  crept,  provided  the  substance  of  the 
narrative  is  true,  and  the  truth  to  be  conveyed 
remains  unaffected.  It  is  a  very  different  matter 
when,  as  in  some  theories,  practically  the  whole 
history  is  converted  into  legend,  and  the  foundation- 
facts  on  which  revelation  rests  are  assailed,  or 
converted  into  fictions,  inventions,  and  imagina- 
tions of  men.  This  happens,  e.g.,  when  the  whole 
patriarchal  history,  and  the  larger  part  even  of  the 
Mosaic  history,  are  converted  into  legend  ;  or  when, 
in  the  New  Testament,  the  incidents  in  the  life  of 
Jesus,  including  His  miracles  and  resurrection,  are 
resolved  into  myth,  or  Babylonian  fable.  Against 
such  tendencies  strong  protest  must  be  entered. 
The  spirit  of  the  Bible  is  truth,  and  history  is  a  thing 
sacred  in  its  eyes.  The  Bible  is  jealous  of  its 
historical  truthfulness,  and  few  books  have  stood 
the  most  rigorous  tests  applied  to  their  statements, 
even  in  regard  to  the  remotest  times,  better  than  the 
Bible  has  done. 

1  E.g.,  legendary  allusions  seem  to  be  found  in  the  Epistle  of  Jude 
(vers.  3,  14,  are  drawn  from  Apocryphal  sources). 


ix.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  175 


CHAPTER  IX 

INSPIRATION — THE  SCRIPTURAL  CLAIMS 

The  foregoing  remarks  on  inspiration  have  pro- 
ceeded on  the  basis  that  the  inspired  record  must  be, 
and  is,  sufficient  to  convey  to  us,  in  purity  and  faith- 
fulness, the  whole  will  of  God  for  our  salvation  and 
guidance.  But  the  course  of  the  discussion,  and 
survey  of  the  Biblical  facts,  suggest  also  certain 
limitations  with  which  the  doctrine  of  inspiration, 
in  its  application  to  the  several  parts  of  Scripture, 
must  necessarily  be  received.  This  is  an  aspect  of 
the  subject  which,  as  arising  out  of  the  data  pre- 
sented in  Scripture  itself,  likewise  requires  attention. 

I.  Limits  of  Biblical  Inspiration. 

The  limitations  attaching  to  inspiration  arise 
from  the  causes  already  specified — the  progressive- 
ness  of  revelation,  the  varying  degrees  of  inspiration, 
and  the  fragmentariness  or  other  defects  of  the 
materials  with  which  inspiration  deals. 

1.  A  first  important  principle  in  this  connection  is, 
that  inspiration  cannot  transcend  the  existing  stage  of 
revelation,  in  the  sense  of  wholly  rising  above  the  im- 
perfections of  that  stage,  even  although,  in  prophetic 
anticipation,  a  higher  stage  may  be  foreshadowed. 
This  is  only  to  say,  in  harmony  with  what  was 
formerly  advanced  on  the  progressiveness  of  revela- 
tion, that,  while,  at  every  stage,  an  ennobling  and 


176  EEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

purifying  light  is  shed  by  inspiration  on  the  whole 
field  of  conceptions  then  existing,  the  record  is 
necessarily  marked  by  whatever  imperfections  still 
inhere  in  these  conceptions.  The  Mosaic  stage  of 
revelation,  e.g.,  did  not  clearly  condemn  polygamy  or 
slavery,  though  it  held  in  it  (already,  as  Jesus  shows 
of  marriage,  in  the  narrative  of  creation)  l  ideas  and 
principles  which  effectively  wrought  for  the  abolition 
of  both.  The  Song  of  Deborah  is  an  inspired  pro- 
duction— Deborah  is  a  '  prophetess ' 2 — but  parts 
are  on  the  lower  key  of  the  rude  age  of  the  Judges. 
There  are  portions  of  the  Psalms — prayers  for  the 
destruction  of  enemies  and  imprecatory  psalms,3 
which  no  Christian  congregation  could  now  sing, 
or  use  in  any  form  without  excessive  spiritualisa- 
tion.  We  find  in  the  New  Testament  that  inspired 
apostles  themselves  grew  in  knowledge  with  regard 
to  circumcision,  and  the  obligation  of  the  law  on  the 
Gentiles,4  and  to  the  end  some  had  wider  and  some 
narrower  views.5  Jesus  disclaims  the  imitation  by 
His  disciples  of  the  example  of  Elijah.0  What  was 
suitable  to  the  age  and  circumstances  of  that 
prophet  (Jesus  does  not  condemn  Elijah)  might  not 
be  suitable  to  a  higher  dispensation.7  All  this  does 
not  detract  from  the  sufficiency  of  the  Biblical 
record,  taken  as  a  whole ;  it  detracts  only  from  the 
sufficiency  of  certain  portions  of  it  if  taken  by  them- 
selves. The  lower  stages  have  to  be  read  in  the 
light  of  the  higher,  with  the  correction  Avhich  the 
higher  affords.     A  Christian  may  uphold  the  divine 

i  Matt.  ix.  3-9.  2  Judges,  iv.  4  ;  v.  3  E.g.  Ps.  cix. 

*  Acts  x.  14,  15,  28  ;  xi.  8,  9  ;  xv.  6-29  ;  Gal.  ii.  12,  13. 
e  Acts  xxi.  18,  25.  6  Luke  ix.  34-6. 

1  Cf.  on  John  the  Baptist,  Matt.  xi.  11. 


ix.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  177 

authority  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  he  will  not  feel 
that  he  is  bound  by  the  Mosaic  law  of  divorce.  Jesus 
did  not  come  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets,  but 
to  fulfil  them.1  But  the  fulfilment  was  itself  an 
abrogation  of  whatever  was  imperfect  in  the  earlier 
stages. 

2.  A  second  important  limitation  in  the  application 
of  the  idea  of  inspiration  arises  from  the  recognition 
of  degrees  in  inspiration.  The  doctrine  of  degrees 
in  inspiration  has  been  wrought  out,  occasionally 
with  great  minuteness,  in  the  older  theology  ;  but 
it  is  in  a  somewhat  different  sense  the  term  is  used 
now.  The  doctrine  need  not  be  viewed  with 
jealousy,  or  stumbled  at,  if  properly  explained  and 
reasonably  guarded.  It  is  implied,  as  already  said, 
in  any  true  doctrine  of  inspiration,  that  the  record 
of  revelation  must  emanate  from  one  possessed  in 
a  special  degree  of  the  Spirit  o£  revelation,  qualifying 
him  for  his  task  ;  but  it  does  not  follow  that  all 
inspired  persons  possess  the  Spirit  in  a  like  eminent 
degree.  Inspiration  in  Scripture  is  of  different  kinds, 
and  for  different  ends.  It  is  certainly  too  narrow 
an  idea  of  inspiration  to  tie  it  down  to  the  production 
of  the  written  record.  There  is  inspiration  in 
speech  as  well  as  in  writing  ;  and  there  are  lower 
grades  of  inspiration  in  the  form  of  special  charismata 
(wisdom,  artistic  skill,  physical  powers),  shading 
off  till  it  becomes  difficult  to  distinguish  them  from 
heightened  natural  endowment.  A  special  inspira- 
tion, e.g.,  is  ascribed  to  Bezaleel  for  the  construction 
of  the  tabernacle.2  Samson's  possession  by  the 
Spirit  took  the  form  of  supernatural  strength.3 

i  Matt.  v.  17,  18.  2  Ex.  xxxv.  30,  31. 

*  Judges  xiii.  24,  25 ;  xiv.  18 ;  xv.  14,  etc. 

M 


178  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

But,  keeping  to  inspiration  in  its  relation  to  the 
written  record,  can  it  be  doubted  that  like  distinc- 
tions are  to  be  recognised  ?  The  difference  may 
depend  on  the  subject  of  inspiration  himself  or 
herself; — a  Deborah,  e.g.,  stood  on  an  immensely 
lower  plane  than  an  Isaiah  or  a  Paul ;  or  it  may 
depend  on  the  greater  or  less  energy  of  the  working 
of  the  Spirit  at  particular  periods  or  under  particular 
conditions.  Laws  are  at  work  here,  as  in  the 
varying  degrees  in  the  intensity  of  the  operation  of 
the  Spirit  in  the  history  of  the  Church  (Revivals), 
which  we  can  only  imperfectly  comprehend.  But 
the  fact  is  obvious  that,  whereas  at  some  periods 
and  in  some  souls  the  Spirit  of  revelation  is  working, 
if  one  may  so  say,  at  a  maximum,  at  other  times, 
and  in  other  persons,  He  is  operating  on  a  lower 
plane,  and,  still  to  speak  reverently,  with  feebler 
energy.  Every  one,  by  a  species  of  '  higher  criticism' 
of  his  own,  recognises  this  in  practice,  whatever  he 
may  do  in  theory.  No  one,  e.g.,  would  compare  the 
Books  of  Chronicles,  in  point  of  spirituality,  with 
the  prophecies  of  Isaiah  or  the  Gospel  of  John, 
or  the  books  of  Esther  and  Ecclesiastes,  as  to  the 
canonicity  of  which  the  later  Jews  themselves  had 
doubts,  with  the  Epistles  of  Paul.  The  prophets 
after  the  exile  stand,  on  the  whole,  on  a  lower  plane 
than  the  earlier  prophets — Hosea,  Amos,  Isaiah, 
etc.  In  the  natural  body,  as  Paul  reminds  us,1  all 
members  have  not  the  same  office,  and  so  is  it  here. 
Some  parts  of  Scripture  have  a  humbler  function  to 
fulfil  than  others.  It  may  be  a  very  real  and 
necessary  function,  but  it  is  not  the  highest.  The 
level  of  truth  in  one  place  is  not  as  high  as  in  others. 

1  Rom.  xii.  4 ;  1  Cor.  xii.  12-26. 


ix.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  179 

To  get  the  whole  truth  we  have  to  take  the  record 
in  its  entirety,  comparing  part  with  part.  The 
Epistle  of  James  may  be  as  necessary  a  part  of  a 
complete  Scripture  as  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  but  the 
doctrine  of  justification  would  not  be  understood 
from  the  Epistle  of  James  alone. 

3.  As  a  third  limitation  in  the  application  of  the 
idea  of  inspiration,  account  has  to  be  taken  also  of 
the  character  and  quality  of  the  sources  of  information 
inspiration  has  to  work  with,  and  of  the  fact  that, 
while  adequate  for  the  ends  of  revelation,  these 
sources,  judged  by  a  literary  standard,  may  be  in 
various  ways  defective.  Inspiration,  it  has  been 
seen,  has  its  materials  furnished  to  it.  These 
materials  come  in  various  ways,  often  through 
secular  channels.  There  may  be  gaps  or  omissions 
in  the  information  conveyed.  In  minor  respects, 
as  in  the  copying  of  MSS.,  mistakes  may  have  crept 
into  them.  The  writers  of  the  historical  books 
(Samuel,  Kings,  Chronicles)  used,  as  we  found, 
earlier  documentary  material, — prophetic  memoirs, 
state  chronicles,  histories  of  kings,  lists,  genealogies, 
etc.  It  is  this  which  gives  the  books  the  high 
historical  value  they  possess.  If,  however,  these 
prophetic  memoirs,  lists,  etc.  were  transmitted  in 
MS.  form,  as  they  must  have  been,  the  MSS.  were 
obviously  open  to  the  ordinary  mishaps  of  trans- 
mission. Names  and  numbers  might  get  corrupted, 
no  doubt  often  did,  before  the  inspired  author  was 
reached.  It  is  often  said  that  inspiration  only 
guarantees  freedom  from  all  mistake  in  the  original 
autograph.  But  in  the  cases  supposed  there  is  a 
long  previous  history  of  documents  to  be  considered. 
This,  in  turn,  may  affect  the  inspired  writer's  own 


180  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

treatment,  as,  e.g.,  in  the  computation  of  the 
synchronisms  in  the  Books  of  Kings,  where  an  error, 
due  to  corruption  in  the  regnal  years  of  oxij  of  the 
kings  (Pekah's  twenty  years  in  2  Kings  xv.  27,  e.g.,  is 
shown  by  the  Assyrian  synchronisms  to  be  a  mistake) 
may  throw  the  reckoning  out  of  step.  Genealogical 
lists,  again,  may  readily  be  fragmentary,  torn,  or 
illegible,  in  the  form  in  which  they  came  into  the 
hands  of  the  sacred  writers,  as  was  manifestly  the 
case  in  some  of  the  lists  in  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and 
Chronicles.  Is  inspiration  to  take  responsibility 
for  these  defects  ?  Or  is  a  supernatural  communica- 
tion to  be  assumed,  in  each  case,  to  supply  the 
missing  word,  or  correct  the  misspelt  name  or 
corrupted  number  ?  This  cannot  be  reasonably 
maintained,  nor  does  the  result  in  the  books  show 
that  such  correction  was  made.  It  did  not  need 
to  be  for  the  ends  of  inspiration.  Matthew  Henry's 
suggestive  remarks  on  this  head  have  been  quoted 
by  the  author  in  another  connection.1  This  devout 
writer,  commenting  on  1  Chron.  viii.  1-32,  observes  : 
'  As  to  the  difficulties  that  occur  in  this  and  the 
foregoing  genealogies  we  need  not  perplex  ourselves. 
I  presume,  Ezra  took  them  as  he  found  them  in 
the  books  of  the  Kings  of  Israel  and  Judah  (ch.  ix.  1), 
according  as  they  were  given  in  by  the  several  tribes, 
each  observing  what  method  they  thought  fit. 
Hence  some  ascend,  others  descend ;  some  have 
numbers  affixed,  others  places ;  some  have  historical 
remarks  intermixed,  others  have  not ;  some  are 
shorter,  others  longer ;  some  agree  with  other 
records,  others  differ  ;  some,  it  seems  likely,  were 
torn,    erased,    and    blotted,    others    more    legible. 

i  Prob.  of  0.  T.,  pp.  486-7. 


ix.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  181 

Those  of  Dan  and  Reuben  were  entirely  lost. 
This  holy  man  wrote  as  he  was  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  but  there  was  no  necessity  for  the  making 
up  of  the  defects,  no,  nor  for  the  rectifying  of  the 
mistakes  of  these  genealogies  by  inspiration.  It 
was  sufficient  that  he  copied  them  out  as  they  came 
to  hand,  or  so  much  of  them  as  was  requisite  for  the 
present  purpose,  which  was  the  directing  of  the 
returned  exiles  to  settle  as  nearly  as  they  could 
with  those  of  their  own  family,  and  in  the  places  of 
their  former  residence.' 

The  general  phenomena  which  have  to  be  dealt 
with  in  framing  a  doctrine  of  the  inspiration  of 
Scripture  have  thus  been  briefly  sketched.  More 
special  points  will  arise  as  the  subject  is  further 
treated.  It  now  remains  to  be  asked  how  far  the 
conclusions  reached  are  in  harmony  with  the  teach- 
ings and  claims  of  Scripture  itself  as  to  its  own 
inspiration,  and  what  kind  of  doctrine  of  inspiration 
answers  best  to  both  requirements — the  Scriptural 
claims,  and  the  actual  phenomena  of  the  book. 

II.  Claim  to  Inspiration.     (A)  The  Old 
Testament  in  the  New. 

A  first  question  is — Is  any  claim  made  in  Scripture 
itself  to  an  inspiration  of  the  book  as  a  whole,  and 
in  its  several  parts  ?  If  there  is,  what  is  the  nature 
of  the  claim,  and  what  weight  is  to  be  given  to  it  ? 

In  seeking  an  answer  to  this  question,  one  fact 
confronts  us  at  the  outset.  No  claim  to  inspiration 
made  in  the  Bible — even  in  such  a  passage  as  2  Tim. 
iii.  15-17 — can  be  regarded  as  covering  the  whole  of 
Scripture  as  we  have  it.     This  for  the  simple  reason 


182  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

that  the  Bible  as  a  completed  book  did  not  then 
exist.  Plainly  '  the  Scriptures/  in  the  usage  of  the 
Gospels  and  the  Epistles,  can,  with  the  exception  of 
2  Pet.  iii.  16,  where  Paul's  Epistles  are  included, 
and  possibly  1  Tim.  v.  18,  only  be  interpreted  of 
the  Old  Testament.  The  expression,  however,  does 
include  the  Old  Testament  writings,  according  to  the 
ordinary  Canon  of  the  Jews,  which  may  be  taken 
as  practically  identical  with  our  own.  It  does  not 
follow  that  these  passages  have  no  bearing  on  the 
writings  of  the  New  Testament,  or  furnish  no 
guidance  as  to  the  estimate  to  be  put  on  these.  Few, 
probably,  will  admit  a  supernatural  inspiration  for 
the  Old  Testament  and  deny  it  to  the  New.  An 
Old  Testament  Scripture  settles  the  question  of 
principle  as  to  an  inspired  record  of  revelation. 
Reasons  may  be  shown  for  bringing  the  New  Testa- 
ment writings  under  the  same  category  ;  the  state- 
ments of  Jesus  and  His  apostles  will  then  be  of 
validity  for  the  New  Testament  also. 

1.  Beginning,  then,  with  the  Old  Testament,  it  may 
be  regarded  as  universally  conceded  that,  in  the  time 
of  Jesus  and  His  apostles,  the  books  we  call  canonical 
were  accepted  by  the  Jewish  people  as  in  the  full 
and  true  sense  '  God-inspired.''  The  Sadducees, 
indeed,  accepted  only  the  '  law,'  and  there  were 
disputes  among  a  section  of  the  Rabbis  as  to  Ecclesi- 
astes  and  Esther  ;  but  no  such  doubts  existed  in  the 
minds  of  the  bulk  of  the  people,  and  certainly  none 
existed  in  the  minds  of  the  writers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Modern  writers  may  question  whether  the 
view  of  Jesus  and  His  apostles  was  a  correct  one, 
but  they  will  not  question  that  the  view  was  there. 

2.  One  crucial  passage  affirming  this  belief,  2  Tim. 


ix.]  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  183 

iii.  15-17,  has  already  been  considered.  It  really 
embodies  the  consentient  New  Testament  doctrine 
on  the  subject.  Everywhere  a  code  of  writings  is 
recognised  bearing  the  designations  of  '  the  Scrip- 
tures,' 1  the  holy  Scriptures,' 2  '  the  sacred  writings,'  3 
— the  same  which  the  Jews  technically  divided  into 
*  the  law,  the  prophets,  and  the  (holy)  writings,'  4 — 
and  everywhere,  in  direct  speech  or  by  implication, 
these  writings  are  treated  as  the  '  God-inspired ' 
and  authoritative  record  of  God's  revelations  to,  and 
dealings  with,  His  ancient  people.  They  are,  as 
Paul  names  them,  '  the  oracles  of  God.' 5  It  is  thus, 
also  unquestionably,  that  Jesus  received  the  Old 
Testament.  The  Synoptics  and  John  are  at  one  in 
their  teaching  here.  The  '  law  '  was  to  Jesus  '  the 
commandment  of  God,'  as  contradistinguished  from 
the  '  tradition  '  of  men,6  and  '  one  jot  or  one  tittle,' 
He  declared,  would  not  pass  from  it  '  till  all  things  be 
accomplished.' 7  Prophecies  and  psalms  were  ful- 
filled in  Him.8  '  The  Son  of  Man  goeth,'  He  declared, 
'  even  as  it  is  written  of  Him.'  9  His  appeal  was 
always  to  Scripture,  and  the  word  of  Scripture  was 
final  with  Him.  '  Have  ye  not  read  ?  ' 10  '  Ye  do  err, 
not  knowing  the  Scriptures,  nor  the  power  of  God.'  n 
This,  because  '  God '  speaks  in  them.12  '  Ye  search 
the  Scriptures,'  He  says  to  the  Jews,  '  because  ye 
think  that  in  them  ye  have  eternal  life  ;    and  these 


1  Matt.  xxi.  42  ;  Luke  xxiv.  27.  2  Kom.  i.  2. 

*  2  Tim.  iii.  15.  ■*  Cf.  Luke  xxiv.  44. 

s  Rom.  iii.  2.  6  Matt.  xv.  6,  9. 

'  Matt.  v.  18.  8  Luke  xviii.  31 ;  xxii.  37  ;  xxiv.  27,  44. 

9  Matt.  xxvi.  24 ;  Mark  xiv.  21. 

w  Matt.  xix.  4.  "  Matt.  xxii.  29. 

18  Ver.  31 ;  cf.  Christ's  answers  to  the  tempter,  Matt.  iv.  4,  6,  7. 


184  EEVELAT10N  AND  LNSPIKATION  [ch. 

are  they  which  bear  witness  of  me.' 1  '  If  ye  believed 
Moses,  ye  would  believe  me ;  for  he  wrote  of  me.' 2 
He  draws  the  most  pregnant  principles  and  lessons 
from  the  sacred  history — even  from  its  earliest  parts.3 
David  spake  '  in  the  Spirit.' 4  '  The  Scripture,'  He 
avers,  as  common  ground  between  Him  and  the  Jews, 
'  cannot  be  broken.' 5  The  Jews  are  those  '  unto 
whom  the  word  of  God  came.'  6  No  doctrine  of  in- 
spiration, surely,  could  be  more  emphatic. 

3.  Yet  Jesus,  as  Founder  and  Lord  of  a  new 
dispensation  ('the  Kingdom  of  Heaven'),  did  not 
accept  the  Old  Testament  unconditionally,  as  if  the 
stage  of  revelation  represented  in  it  were  perfect,  or 
was  not,  with  His  coming,  to  give  place  to  a  higher. 
The  dispensational  imperfections  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment are  fully  recognised.  He  took  up,  therefore, 
as  Son  of  Man,  a  lordly  and  discretionary  attitude 
towards  its  letter,  laws,  and  institutions.  This  is 
seen  in  His  teaching  on  such  subjects  as  marriage  and 
divorce,7  the  Sabbath,8  clean  and  unclean  in  meats,9 
etc.  He  fulfilled,  but  in  fulfilling,  necessarily  super- 
seded and  abolished  much  in  the  legal  economy. 
The  precepts  of  the  law  received  a  deeper  and  fuller 
interpretation  and  expression,  in  agreement  always, 
however,  with  the  law's  own  underlying  principles.10 

4.  Taught  by  Jesus,  and  possessed  of  the  Spirit 
promised   to   them,11   the  apostles  and  other  New 

i  John  v.  39.  2  Vers.  46,  47 ;  cf.  Luke  xvi.  31. 

3  Matt.   xix.   4-6  (marriage);   xxii.  31,  32  (resurrection);    Matt. 
xxiv.  37,  38 ;  Luke  xvii.  26-32  (Noah,  Lot). 

*  Matt.  xxii.  43. 

•  John  x.  35.  6  Ibid. 

1  Matt.  xix.  8,  9.  8  Mark  ii.  27,  28. 

»  Mark  vii.  18,  19.  n>  Matt.  v.  12 ;  xxii.  35,  40. 

U  Luke  xxiv.  49  ;  John  xvi.  26  ;  xx.  22 ;  Acts  ii. 


ix.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  185 

Testament  writers  accept  and  treat  the  Old 
Testament  precisely  as  Jesus  did.  The  inspiration 
of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  is  constantly 
assumed,  though,  naturally,  the  apostolic  witness 
relates  chiefly  to  the  prophets  and  psalms.1  The 
Messianic  interpretation  of  Scripture  employed  by 
them  is  the  continuation  of  that  employed  by  Jesus 
Himself.  The  Spirit  of  Christ  spake  in  the  prophets.2 
The  word  of  Scripture  is  a  word  of  the  Holy  Spirit.3 
Scripture,  comprehensively,  is  '  God-inspired.' 


III.  (B)  The  Old  Testament  Claim  in  General. 

1.  The  above  testimonies,  which  could  be  greatly 
multiplied,  seem  sufficiently  explicit.  The  ques- 
tion which  will  now  be  asked  is,  whether  they  are 
borne  out  by  the  claims  which  the  Old  Testament 
makes  for  itself.  That  the  Jews  believed  in  the 
inspiration  of  their  sacred  writings  is  allowed.  Do 
the  New  Testament  passages  prove  more  than  that 
Jesus  and  His  apostles  shared  the  belief  of  their 
nation  ?  It  might  perhaps  be  answered  that,  in 
the  Christian  Church,  at  least,  the  Old  Testament 
can  never  mean  less  to  Christ's  disciples  than  it 
meant  to  Christ  Himself.  The  question  is,  however, 
a  fair  one  as  to  the  compatibility  of  the  claim  made 
for  the  Old  Testament  in  the  passages  cited  with  the 
witness  of  the  book  itself.  And  here  many  doubts 
may  be  suggested.  The  Old  Testament,  like  the 
New,  is  not  a  single  work,  but  a  collection — a  library 

i  Acts  i.  16  ;  ii.  16  ff. ;   iii.  18,  24 ;   Rom.  i.  2 ;  iii.  21 ;  xvi.  26 ; 
1  Cor.  xv.  3,  4 ;  Heb.  iii.  6  ff.  ;  1  Pet.  i.  2 ;  Rev.  xix.  10. 

*  1  Pet.  i.  11. 

*  Acts  xxviii.  25 ;  Heb.  iii.  7 ;  vi.  11,  etc. ;  2  Pet.  i.  20. 


186  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

— of  books.  The  origin  of  many  of  these  is  obscure  ; 
some  appear  to  make  no  claim  to  inspiration ;  most 
were  brought  together  and  acquired  canonical 
authority  only  at  a  late  period.  Where  is  the 
evidence  that  this  collection  of  literature  as  a 
whole  possesses  the  quality  of  inspiration  claimed 
for  it  ? 

2.  At  this  point  the  question  of  the  inspiration 
of  the  Old  Testament  becomes  implicated  with  that 
of  canonic ity — a  subject  on  which  it  is  not  possible 
here  to  enter.1  This  only  may  be  said,  that,  among 
the  causes  determining  the  reception  of  a  book  into 
the  Old  Testament  Canon,  belief  in  the  inspiration 
of  the  book  may  be  accounted  as  the  chief.  This  is 
the  reason  which  Josephus  gives  for  the  rejection  of 
later  books,  viz.,  '  the  exact  succession  of  prophets 
having  been  no  longer  maintained.'  2  The  books 
which  were  received  were,  according  to  him,  '  justly 
accredited  as  divine.' 3  On  any  other  principle  it 
would  be  difficult  to  account  for  the  exclusion  of  such 
a  work  as  that  of  the  Son  of  Sirach  (Ecclesiasticus), 
written  about  200  B.C.,  or  of  compositions  like  the 
Psalms  of  Solomon.  While,  moreover,  many  ques- 
tions regarding  the  origin  of  particular  books  must 
remain  unsolved,  the  greater  part  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment can  be  shown  by  its  internal  character,  by  the 
claims  made  for  it,  and  by  its  place  in  the  history 
of  revelation,  to  be  entitled  to  rank  as  a  work  of 
inspiration. 

3.  It  is  a  fact  of  much  significance  that,  in  many 
passages  of  the  Old  Testament,  we  find  references  to 
what  appears  to  be  a  code  of  sacred  writings  in  use 

i  Cf.  Prob.  of  0.  T.,  pp.  481  ff. 

*  Contra  Apion.,  i.  8.  3  Ibid. 


ix.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  187 

among  the  pious  in  Israel,  through  the  study  of  which 
their  minds  were  nourished,  and  by  meditation  on 
which  they  were  comforted  and  sustained.  Such 
are  the  references  to  the  '  law  '  and  '  word  '  of  God, 
in  many  of  the  Psalms.  Whatever  the  date  of 
compositions  like  Pss.  i.,  xix.,  cxix.,  they  do  not, 
at  least,  come  down  so  far  as  the  final  closing  of 
the  Canon ;  and  no  one  who  reads  attentively 
their  eulogies  on  God's  law,  and  exhortations  to 
meditation  on  it,  and  notes  the  qualities  ascribed 
to  the  law  (enlightening,  quickening,  converting, 
cleansing,  directing,  etc.),  can  fail  to  perceive  that 
a  very  considerable  range  of  literature,  in  a  known 
form,  must  already  have  existed  for  the  godly.  It 
is  arbitrary  to  bring  the  whole  of  the  Psalms  down 
below  the  Exile.  Ps.  i.  would  seem  to  have  existed 
before  Jeremiah,  who  quotes  it.1  Ps.  xix.  has  a  good 
claim  to  be  Davidic. 

It  is  not  the  Psalms  themselves,  however,  that 
are  alone  in  question  ;  it  is  the  '  law  '  of  God  which 
they  presuppose  and  praise.  The  attributes 
ascribed  to  the  law — attributes  which  only  inspira- 
tion could  impart — can  hardly  be  satisfied  by  the 
sacrificial  and  priestly  directions  of  the  Levitical 
code.  Something  of  wider  scope  and  more  spiritual 
character  must  be  understood.  Or  take  such 
passages  as  Ps.  xii.  6  :  *  The  words  of  the  Lord  are 
pure  words,  as  silver  tried  in  a  furnace,  purified 
seven  times  '  ;  or  Ps.  xvii.  4  :  *  Bv  the  word  of  Thv 
lips,  I  have  kept  me  from  the  ways  of  the  violent '  ; 
or  the  references  to  God's  c  ways,'  '  ordinances,' 
1  statutes,'  in  Ps.  xviii.  21,  22  (by  the  highest  title 
Davidic),  and  the  inference  must  be  the  same.     The 

1  Jer.  xvii.  8. 


188  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

psalmists  had  sure  '  words  '  of  God, — tried  words, 
rules  and  laws  for  life,  on  which  they  could 
rely  with  certainty  as  coming  from  Jehovah. 

Other  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  present  similar 
indications.  Job  is  exhorted  to  '  receive  the  law  from 
[God's]  mouth  and  lay  up  His  words  '  in  his  heart ;  l 
and  the  patriarch  replies  :  '  His  way  have  I  kept, 
and  turned  not  aside.  I  have  not  gone  back  from 
the  commandment  of  His  lips  :  I  have  treasured 
up  the  words  of  His  mouth  more  than  any  necessary 
food.' 2  In  Proverbs  we  read :  '  Every  word  of 
God  is  tried.  .  .  .  Add  thou  not  to  His  words, 
lest  He  reprove  thee,  and  thou  be  found  a  liar.'  3 
Where  were  these  life-giving  words  to  be  found,  if 
not  in  some  form  of  Scripture  ?  So  Isaiah  can 
appeal  '  to  the  law  and  to  the  testimony,'  4  and  can 
exhort  his  readers  :  '  Seek  ye  out  of  the  book  of  the 
Lord,  and  read  :  no  one  of  these  shall  be  missing, 
none  shall  want  her  mate.'  5  Jeremiah  can  speak 
of  a  '  law  of  the  Lord,'  which  false  pens  had 
falsified.6  Hosea,  speaking  for  Jehovah,  mourns  : 
'  I  wrote  for  him  the  ten  thousand  things  of  my  law  ; 
but  they  are  counted  as  a  strange  thing.'  7  Daniel 
consults  '  the  books  '  for  the  number  of  the  years 
set  for  the  desolation  of  Jerusalem,8  and  speaks  of 
that  which  was  '  written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  the 
servant  of  God.'  9  In  brief,  Scriptures,  which  must 
have  contained  the  records  of  God's  dealings  with 
His  people,  a  knowledge  of  which  is  constantly 
presupposed,  '  laws  '  of  God  for  the  regulation  of 
the    heart    and    conduct,    '  statutes,'    '  ordinances,' 

i  Job  xxii.  22.  2  j0D  xxiii.  11,  12.  3  Pror.  xxx.  5,  6. 

4  Is.  viii.  20.  s  Is.  viii.  20.  «  Jer.  viii.  8. 

7  Hos.  viii.  12.  8  Dan.  ix.  2.  »  Vers.  11-13. 


ix.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  189 

*  words '  of  God,  are  a  postulate  of  a  great  part  of 
the  Old  Testament. 

IV.  ((7)  Old  Testament  Claim — The  Several 

Parts. 

It  is  necessary  now  to  approach  nearer,  and  ask 
whether  any  of  these  inspired  Scriptures  can  be  more 
closely  identified.  And  here  another  fact  which 
meets  us  is,  that,  if  the  testimony  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment itself  be  taken — and  it  is  that  we  are  now 
dealing  with,  not  theories  about  the  Old  Testament 
— a  large  part  of  the  materials  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment do  come  from  men  who  were  indubitably, 
and  in  the  highest  sense,  inspired. 

1.  This  appears  in  part  from  the  character  of  the 
material  ;  but  it  appears  also  from  what  is  expressly 
stated.  The  law,  as  a  whole,  claims  divine  authority. 
As  a  whole,  also,  it  claims  to  emanate  from  Moses. 
Grant,  if  it  is  thought  necessary,  that  it  may  have 
undergone  revision,  codification,  editing,  at  later 
times,  by  competent  authority — for  only  under  such 
authority  could  changes  gain  acceptance — it  is  still 
'  the  book  of  the  law  of  Moses  '  as  far  back  as  we  can 
trace  it.1  Parts  of  it  are  attested  in  a  special  manner. 
The  Book  of  the  Covenant,  e.g.,  is  expressly  said  to 
have  been  written  by  Moses  at  the  forming  of  the 
covenant  with  Jehovah  at  Sinai.2  The  Book  of 
Deuteronomy  is  likewise  said  —  the  discourses 
contained  in  it  at  least  are — to  have  been  written 
by  Moses,  and  formally  delivered  by  him  to  the 
priests.3     Whether  the  book  in  its  existing  form  is 

i  Josh.  i.  7,  8  ;  viii.  30,  35 ;  xxiv.  26 ;  2  Kings  xiv.  6 ;  Neh.  viii. 
1 ;  Dan.  ix.  11-13,  etc. 
*  Ex.  xxiv.  4,  7.  3  Deut.  xxxi.  9,  24. 


REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

this  very  work,  or  a  more  or  less  expanded  repro- 
duction of  it  by  a  later  prophet,  is  a  secondary 
question ;  the  inspiration  of  the  book  is  felt  in 
every  verse  and  line.  Joshua,  similarly,  is  declared 
to  have  written  in  '  the  book  of  the  law  of  the  Lord.' l 

2.  Taking  next  the  extensive  prophetic  literature 
of  the  Old  Testament,  it  will  not  be  denied  that  this 
claims  to  be  produced  under  direct  divine  inspira- 
tion. The  prophets  are  the  inspired  men,  par  excel- 
lence, of  the  Old  Testament.  Called  and  equipped 
for  their  special  work  by  God,  endowed  with  a 
special  measure  of  His  Spirit,  receiving  their  messages 
from  His  hand,  delivering  them  under  the  solemn 
sanction  of  a  '  Thus  saith  the  Lord,'  accrediting  them 
with  supernatural  prediction,  they  speak  and  write 
with  an  authority  which  cannot  be  taken  from  them. 
Their  writings,  accordingly,  answer  in  the  highest 
degree  to  the  tests  of  inspiration. 

3.  The  prophets,  however,  were  more  than 
preachers ;  they  were  the  historians  in  Israel. 
History,  in  the  Old  Testament,  in  its  conception, 
genesis,  sp hit,  execution,  is  of  necessity  sacred  history. 
It  is  never  a  mere  record  of  secular  events,  but  is  a 
history  of  revelation, — such,  therefore,  as  only  men  of 
a  prophetic  spirit  could  produce.  The  Jews  in- 
dicated their  sense  of  this  fact,  and  the  idea  under 
which  the  historical  books  were  accepted  into  the 
Canon,  by  designating  the  series  from  Joshua  to 
2  Kings  (Ruth  excepted)  '  the  former  prophets.' 
The  prophets,  in  fact,  seem  all  along  to  have  acted 
as  the  sacred  '  historiographers  '  of  the  nation,  writ- 
ing monographs  on  particular  reigns,  or  histories  of 
events  contemporary,  or  nearly  so,  with  themselves. 

1  Josh.  xxiv.  26. 


ix.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  191 

This  is  fully  borne  out  by  the  notices  in  the  later 
books,  already  alluded  to,  of  the  prophetic  sources 
from  which  the  longer  narratives  are  compiled.1 
While  the  prophetic  compositions  were  themselves 
in  circulation,  they  would,  in  their  separate  form, 
to  some  extent  serve  the  purpose  of  Scripture.  It 
was  needful,  however,  that  in  the  end  longer  histories 
should  be  drawn  up  ;  and,  though  we  cannot  now 
trace  the  steps  by  which  these  sacred  documents 
were  collected,  the  essential  parts  extracted  from 
them,  and  the  whole  brought  together  in  the  setting 
Avhich  exhibited  the  divine  meaning,  we  may  see  in 
the  product  that  this  task  also  was  carried  through 
by  prophetically  minded  men,  themselves  deeply 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  history  they  recorded. 
It  is  this  prophetic  character  of  the  books  which 
gives  them  their  claim  to  a  place  in  an  inspired 
collection. 

The  same  remark  applies  to  the  earlier  history  in 
the  Pentateuch.  The  Book  of  Genesis  is  a  history 
of  revelation  till  the  death  of  Joseph.  The  remain- 
ing books  record,  along  with  the  legislation,  the 
events  of  the  Mosaic  period — that  formative  period 
in  Israel's  history.  These  books  form  really  part  of 
the  '  law,'  the  foundations  of  which,  if  not  much 
more,  Moses,  the  most  gifted  of  prophetic  spirits,  is 
credited  with  laying.  If  Joshua,  on  whom  the 
spirit  of  Moses  rested,2  and  others  like-minded, 
collaborated  or  continued  the  work,  the  reality  of 
its  inspiration,  internally  attested  by  its  massive 
unity,  insight,  and  pervasion  by  the  great  ideas  of 
revelation,  is  not  affected. 

1  See  above,  p.  164.     Cf.  Kirkpatrick,  Divine  Library  of  0.  T.t 
pp.  13  ff.  ;  Ottley,  Aspects  of  0.  T.,  p.  145  ff.,  etc.         a  Josh.  i.  1-9. 


192  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

4.  The  Psalms,  which  exhibit  rather  than  declare 
their  inspiration,  have  already  been  spoken  of  ;  but 
one  passage,  which  may  be  regarded  as  typical  of 
their  standpoint  on  this  subject,  represents  David 
as  saying,  '  David  the  son  of  Jesse  saith.  .  .  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  spake  by  me,  and  His  word  was 
upon  my  tongue.' x  The  Wisdom- literature  has  its 
classical  form  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs,  and  is 
there  put  forth,  not  as  a  product  of  man's  genius, 
but  as  an  utterance  of  the  Eternal  Wisdom,  the 
outpouring  of  whose  Spirit  is  promised.2 


V.  New  Testament  Inspiration. 

1.  If  a  seemingly  disproportionate  attention  has 
been  bestowed  upon  the  Old  Testament,  it  is  for  the 
reason  already  given,  that  few  who  acknowledge  a 
divine  inspiration  in  the  Old  Testament  will  be 
disposed  to  deny  it  to  the  New.  The  apostles  are 
placed  by  Jesus  Himself  in  the  category  of  prophets,3 
again  are  raised  above  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment.4 It  is  promised  that,  in  their  need,  the  Spirit 
of  the  Father  will  speak  in  them.5  Especially  in  the 
farewell  discourses  of  Jesus  is  the  Spirit  promised  to 
guide  them  into  all  truth,  and  to  bring  all  things  to 
their  remembrance,  whatsoever  He  had  said  to  them.6 
The  outpouring   of   the   Spirit   on   the   disciples — 

1  2  Sara,  xxiii.  2.  Dr.  Sanday  remarks :  '  We  have  to  note  that 
there  are  a  number  of  instances  in  which  the  Psalmist  adoprs  forms 
of  language  which  we  are  accustomed  to  associate  specially  with 
prophecy,'  and  refers  for  instances  to  Dr.  Cheyne's  Aids  to  Devout 
Study,  etc.,  p.  152  (Inspiration,  p.  195). 

2  Prov.  i.  20  ff.  ;  viii.  1 ;  'prophecy,'  xxx.  1.     Cf.  1  Kings iii.  5-15. 

3  Matt.  xxiv.  34.        *  Matt.  xi.  11 ;  xii.  17,  52.        5  Matt.  x.  20. 
6  John  xiv.  26 ;  xv.  26,  27  ;  xvi.  13,  14. 


[x.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  193 

pre-eminently  on  the  apostles — at  Pentecost,  with 
its  remarkable  results  in  illumination  of  the  mind 
and  endowment  with  spiritual  and  miraculous 
power,  shows  in  how  signal  a  way  this  promise  was 
fulfilled.1  The  Spirit  was  the  element  in  which  the 
early  Church  lived.  Baptism  of  the  Spirit,  with 
accompanying  gifts,  frequently  followed  baptism 
and  the  laying  on  of  hands.2  The  apostles,  and  men 
like  Stephen,  are  spoken  of  as  '  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,' 3  and  as  discoursing  under  His  influence. 
Revelations,  prophecies,  tongues,  were  no  un- 
common phenomena.4  It  is  understood,  rather 
than  always  claimed,  that  writings  emanating  from 
apostles  and  those  associated  with  them  possessed 
the  quality  of  inspiration. 

2.  The  writings  of  the  New  Testament  have  only 
to  be  examined  to  make  clear,  not  only  the  light  and 
power  which  are  the  supreme  attestation  of  their 
inspiration,  but  the  pervading  assumption,  and  often 
open  assertion,  of  their  unique  and  authoritative 
character  as  inspired  writings.5  Paul's  apostleship 
was  based  upon  a  special  call  and  a  distinct  mission, 
for  the  carrying  out  of  which  he  had  special  promises 
and  special  qualifications  given  to  him  ('  filled  with 
the  Holy  Spirit'  ).6  He  never  faltered  in  his  claim 
to  be  '  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  the  will  of 
God  ' 7 — '  separated  unto  the  Gospel  of  God  '  8 — 
who  had  received  his  message,  not  from  man,  but 
by  '  revelation  '  from  heaven.9     In  his  preaching  he 

1  Acts  ii.  etc.  2  Acts  viii.  15-17,  etc. 

3  Acts  ii.  4  ;  iv.  8  ;  vii.  55,  etc.  4  1  Cor.  xii. 

5  1  Cor.  ii.  4-10 ;  1  Thess.  i.  5  ;  ii.  13  ;  1  John  iv.  6  ;  Rev.  xxii. 
19,  etc. 

6  Acts  ix.  17.  7  Eph.  i.  1,  etc. 
»  Rom.  i.  1.  9  Gal.  i.  11,  12. 

N 


194  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

claimed  to  possess  the  Spirit,1  and  to  speak  *  the  word 
of  God,'  in  the  fullest  and  most  authoritative  sense.2 
John  makes  similar  claims  to  the  possession  of  the 
Spirit,  enabling  him  to  understand  and  to  write  the 
truth  so  that  no  one  is  at  liberty  to  gainsay.3  He 
claims,  indeed,  for  his  hearers  a  like  '  uncfron,' 
qualifying  them  to  understand  and  judge  of  the 
truth,4  as  Paul  prays  that  a  '  spirit  of  wisdom 
and  revelation '  may  be  given  to  his  converts.5 
But  the  apostles  are  the  teachers ;  their  converts 
and  disciples  are  the  taught.  Peter  writes  with  a 
like  clear  note  of  certainty,  as  of  one  who  preached 
the  Gospel  '  by  the  Holy  Spirit  sent  down  from 
heaven.'  6  The  Apocalypse  is  a  product  of  the  Spirit 
of  prophecy — a  '  revelation.' 7  In  general — and 
stronger  language  could  not  be  used — the  '  mystery 
of  Christ '  has  '  now  been  revealed  unto  His  holy 
apostles  and  prophets  in  the  Spirit.' 8  In  conse- 
quence, the  Church  is  declared  to  be  '  built  upon  the 
foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Christ 
Jesus  Himself  being  the  chief  corner  stone.'  9 

3.  These  illustrations  suffice  to  show  in  how 
special  a  manner  inspiration  is  claimed  for  the 
apostolic  writings,  and  in  how  real  a  sense  these  are 
entitled  to  be  brought  under  the  category  of 
1  Scripture  ' — as,  indeed,  Paul's  Epistles  already  are 
in  2  Pet.  iii.  16.  The  character  of  New  Testament 
inspiration  will  receive  further  elucidation  in  the 
next  chapter,  but  a  word  may  perhaps  be  said  here 

i  1  Cor.  ii.  12,  13,  16. 

2  Rom.  x.  8 ;  2  Cor.  1,  18  ;  v.  19 ;  1  Thess.  ii.  13 ;  iii.  14 ;  Col.  i. 
25,  etc. 

3  1  John  iv.  6  ;  v.  15,  19,  20.  «  1  John  ii.  20,  26-7 ;  £v.  6. 

*  Eph.  i.  17.  «  1  Pet.  i.  12. 

*  Rev.  xxii.  19 ;  cf.  i.  1-8.  8  Eph.  iii.  5.  »  Eph.  ii.  20. 


ix.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  195 

on  the  inspiration  of  those  who  stand  in  a  secondary 
relation  to  the  apostles — writers,  e.g.,  like  Mark  and 
Luke.  On  what  grounds,  or  in  what  sense,  is  inspira- 
tion to  be  attributed  to  them  ?  The  inspiration 
of  the  Gospels  by  these  writers,  as  will  be  seen  later, 
does  not  rest  solely  on  the  inspiration  of  their 
immediate  authors.  Much  of  their  content  is  the 
well-attested  and  internally  confirmed  teaching  of 
Jesus  Himself :  their  substance,  almost  entirely, 
is  that  compendium  of  sayings  and  events,  resting 
on  testimony  of  apostles  and  eye-witnesses,  which 
had  taken  well-fixed  shape  as  the  result  of  Spirit- 
guided  apostolic  teaching  and  preaching  long  before 
the  evangelists  brought  it  into  its  present  written 
form.  But  the  evangelists  were  none  the  less 
themselves  inspired  men.  They  were  men  who 
belonged  to  the  apostolic  circle,  and  stood  in  a 
peculiar  relation  of  intimacy  with  the  apostles, 
sharing  in  their  work,  and,  as  the  whole  conditions 
of  the  Church  in  that  age  prove,  possessing  in  a  special 
degree  gifts  of  the  Spirit. 

This  is  an  interesting  point.  A  comparison  of  the 
facts  relating  to  the  companions  of  the  apostles — 
to  Silas,  Timothy,  Mark,  Luke,  in  particular — did 
space  permit  of  it,  would  show  how  broad  a  basis 
for  the  claim  to  inspiration  could  here  be  laid.  One 
need  only  recall  the  manner  in  which  Paul  habitually 
associates  such  men  with  himself  in  the  most  sacred 
and  responsible  functions  of  his  ministry, — how  he 
writes,  e.g.,  '  For  the  Son  of  God,  Jesus  Christ,  who 
was  preached  among  you  by  me,  even  by  me,  and 
Silvanus  and  Timothy,  was  not  yea  and  nay,'  l — 
how  he  joins  the  same  two  with  him  in  his  epistolary 

i  2  Cor.  i.  19. 


196  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

greeting  to  the  Thessalonians,  and  says :  '  Our 
Gospel  came  not  unto  you  in  word  only,  but  also  in 
power,  and  in  the  Holy  Spirit,' 1 — how  he  repeatedly 
dwells  on  '  the  gift '  which  Timothy  had  received, 
with  prophesy  ings,  by  the  laying  on  of  hands,2 — 
to  see  that  Mark  and  Luke  must  have  been  sharers 
of  a  like  consecration  and  like  gifts,3  qualifying 
them  for  the  special  work  they  were  ultimately  to 
undertake.  The  Spirit's  guidance,  which  was  not 
wanting  in  every  step  of  an  apostle's  journey,4  was 
not  likely  to  be  lacking  when  the  life  of  the  Master 
came  to  be  written.  And  the  result  shows  beyond 
^ontroversv  that  it  was  not. 

i  1  Thess.  i.  1,  5. 

2  1  Tim.  i.  18 ;  iv.  14 ;  2  Tim.  i.  6,  14. 

*  Cf.  Acts  xii.  25 ;  xiii.  1,  2,  5  ;  xv.  36-41,  eta. 

*  Acts  xvi.  7,  etc. 


x.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  197 


CHAPTER  X 

INSPIRATION — RESULTS   FOR  DOCTRINE  OF 
HOLY   SCRIPTURE 

It  is  now  time  to  gather  up  results,  and  ask  whether 
a  doctrine  of  inspiration  is  attainable  which  shall  at 
once  be  true  to  the  facts  of  the  record  and  true  to 
the  claims  of  Scripture  itself  on  this  important 
subject.  In  the  answer  to  this  question  is  involved 
the  answer  to  another — Is  there  for  the  Church  of 
to-day  a  tenable  doctrine  of  Holy  Scripture  ? 

I.  Revelation  and  Inspiration — Their 
Relations. 

1.  It  will  have  been  seen  that  it  is  sought  in 
the  preceding  pages  to  approach  the  subject  of 
inspiration  through  that  of  revelation.  This  seems 
the  right  method  to  pursue.  The  doctrine  of 
inspiration  grows  out  of  that  of  revelation,  and  can 
only  be  made  intelligible  through  the  latter.  The 
older  method  was  to  prove  first  the  inspiration 
(by  historical  evidence,  miracles,  claims  of  writers), 
then  through  that  establish  the  revelation.  This 
view  still  finds  an  echo  in  the  note  sometimes  heard 
— '  If  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  (commonly  some 
theory  of  inspiration)  be  given  up,  what  have  we  left 
to  hold  by  ? '  It  is  urged,  e.g.,  that  unless  we  can 
demonstrate  what  is  called  the  '  inerrancy '  of  the 
Biblical  record,  down  even  to  its  minutest  details, 


198  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

the  whole  edifice  of  belief  in  revealed  religion  falls 
to  the  ground.  This,  on  the  face  of  it,  is  a  most 
suicidal  position  for  any  defender  of  revelation  to 
take  up.  It  is  certainly  a  much  easier  matter  to 
prove  the  reality  of  a  divine  revelation  in  the 
history  of  Israel,  or  in  Christ,  than  it  is  to  prove  the 
inerrant  inspiration  of  every  part  of  the  record 
through  which  that  revelation  has  come  to  us. 
Grant  the  Gospels  to  be  only  ordinary  historical 
documents — trustworthy  records  of  the  life  of  Christ, 
apart  from  any  special  inspiration  in  their  authors— 
we  should  still,  one  may  contend,  be  shut  up  as  much 
as  ever  to  the  belief  that  the  Person  whose  words 
and  works  they  narrate  was  One  who  made  super- 
human claims,  and  whose  character,  words,  and 
deeds  attested  the  truth  of  these  claims.1  It  is 
assuredly  easier  to  believe  that  Jesus  spoke  and  acted 
in  the  way  the  Gospels  declare  Him  to  have  done, 
than  to  prove  that  Mark  and  Luke  possessed 
an  exceptional  inspiration  in  the  composition  of 
their  writings — though,  as  has  been  already  stated, 
there  is  the  best  reason  for  believing  that  they  did. 

1  This  has  often  been  put  as  strongly  as  it  can  be  by  the  stoutest 
defenders  of  the  infallibility  of  Scripture.  Cf.,  e.g.,  Bannerman, 
Inspiration:  the  Infallible  Truth  and  Divine  Authority  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  pp,  18  ff.  Drs.  Hodge  and  Warfield,  arguing  for  an 
'errorless  Scripture,'  write:  'Nor  should  we  ever  allow  it  to  be 
believed  that  the  truth  of  Christianity  depends  upon  any  doctrine  of 
inspiration  whatever.  Revelation  came  in  large  part  before  the 
record  of  it,  and  the  Christian  Church  before  the  New  Testament 
Scriptures.  Inspiration  can  have  no  meaning  if  Christianity  is  not 
true,  but  Christianity  would  be  true  and  divine,  and  being  so,  would 
stand,  even  if  God  had  not  been  pleased  to  give  us,  in  addition  to  his 
revelation  of  saving  truth,  an  infallible  record  of  that  revelation 
absolutely  errorless  by  means  of  inspiration'  (Presby.  R$v.t  April 
1881,  p.  227). 


x.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  199 

2.  The  same  remark  applies  to  the  tendency  to 
make  'inerrancy' — i.e.,  hard  and  fast  literality  in 
minute  matters  of  historical,  geographical,  and 
scientific  detail — a  point  in  the  essence  of  the  doctrine 
of  inspiration.  The  subject  will  come  up  later,  but 
at  present  it  may  be  observed  that,  at  best,  such 
'  inerrancy '  can  never  be  demonstrated  with  a 
cogency  which  entitles  it  to  rank  as  the  foundation  of 
a  belief  in  inspiration.  It  must  remain  to  those  who 
hold  it  a  doctrine  of  faith  ;  a  deduction  from  what 
they  deem  to  be  implied  in  an  inspiration  established 
independently  of  it ;  not  a  ground  of  belief  in  the 
inspiration.1  It  is,  as  before,  easier  to  establish  the 
fact  of  the  reality  and  all-pervading  presence  of  an 
inspiration  adequate  to  the  ends  of  revelation  than 
to  demonstrate  this  particular  aspect  of  it. 

3.  But  now  another  fact  has  to  be  taken  into 
account.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  it  has  been  seen  that, 
in  the  order  of  inquiry,  revelation  precedes  inspira- 
tion, it  has  become  not  less  clearly  evident  that  over 
a  large  area,  in  the  fact  itself,  revelation  and  inspira- 
tion are  closely  and  inseparably  united.  Internal 
revelation,  e.g.,  such  as  we  have  in  prophecy,  or  in  the 
'  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ '  claimed  for  himself  by 
Paul,  is  not  conceivable  save  as  accompanied  by  an 
inspired  state  of  soul.  Inspiration  is  involved  in  the 
very  reception  of  such  a  revelation  ;    is  a  necessary 

1  Bannerman  says :  '  The  unintentional  errors  which  may  be  and 
are  found  in  writings  marked  by  perfect  historical  veracity,  cannot 
be  taken  account  of  as  affecting  the  force  or  conclusiveness  of  this 
argument.  Making  any  allowance  that  can  reasonably  be  demanded 
for  the  possibility  of  such  errors,  and  subtracting  from  the  sacred 
text  what  might  by  any  chance  be  set  to  that  account,  there  remains 
enough  for  the  purpose  which  the  friends  of  inspiration  have  in  view,' 
etc.  (ojo.  cit.,  p.  284). 


200  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

condition  of  the  revelation  being  apprehended, 
possessed,  and  communicated  to  others.  In  the 
very  acknowledgment,  therefore,  of  revelation  as 
an  element  pervading  the  Bible  and  giving  unity  to 
its  parts,  there  is  implied  an  acknowledgment  of 
inspiration.  Just  as,  on  the  other  side,  there  can  be 
no  degree  of  inspiration,  however  humble,  which 
does  not  imply  some  measure  of  revelation. 

4.  Revelation  and  inspiration  thus  go  together, 
and  conjointly  give  to  the  written  word  a  quality 
which  distinguishes  it  from  any  product  of  ordinary 
human  wisdom.  Inspiration,  Paul  says,  confers  on 
Scripture  the  properties  of  being  '  profitable  for 
teaching,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction 
which  is  in  righteousness ' — of  being  able  '  to  make 
wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus.' *  Of  similar  nature  are  the  qualities  ascribed 
in  the  psalms  to  the  law  of  God — '  restoring  the  soul,' 
'  making  wise  the  simple,'  '  rejoicing  the  heart,' 
'  enlightening  the  eyes,' 2  etc.  As  Jesus  says  of  His 
own  words,  that  they  '  are  spirit  and  are  life,' 3  so  of 
the  word  of  God  in  general  it  is  declared  that  it  '  is 
living  and  active,  and  sharper  than  any  two-edged 
sword,  and  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  of  soul  and 
spirit,  of  both  joint  and  marrow,  and  quick  to 
discern  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart.'  4  The 
last  passage  is  the  more  significant  that,  in  the 
context,  the  writer  has  been  identifying  words  from 
the  Book  of  Genesis  and  the  Psalms  with  words  of 
God  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit.5  Paul  and  John 
likewise   declare   that   to   the    spiritual   man   (and 

1  2  Tim.  iii.  15-17.  2  Pss.  xix.  7-9 ;  cxix.,  etc. 

3  John  vi.  63.  <  Heb.  iv.  12. 

6  Heb.  iii.  7-iv.  11. 


x.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  201 

only  to  him)  belongs  the  discernment  of  the  word 
of  God.1 


II.  Witness  of  the  Spirit  to  Inspiration. 

1.  On  this  undeniable,  self- attesting  spiritual 
quality  of  Scripture  some  would  lay  the  whole  weight 
of  the  proof  of  inspiration.  It  is  the  testimonium 
Spiritus  Sancti — the  witness  of  the  Holy  Spirit — on 
which  Calvin,  some  of  the  Reformed  Confessions, 
and  a  writer  like  John  Owen,  would  rest  almost 
exclusively  the  certainty  of  the  divine  origin  and 
authority  of  Scripture.2  The  aim  is  to  obtain  a 
ground  for  assured  faith  in  God's  Word  indepen- 
dently of  Church  and  tradition.  The  Westminster 
Confession — somewhat  broader  in  its  outlook — states 
the  matter  in  this  way  :  '  We  may  be  moved  and 
induced  by  the  testimony  of  the  Church  to  an  high 
and  reverent  esteem  of  the  Holy  Scripture,  and  the 
heavenliness  of  the  matter,  the  efficacy  of  the  doctrine, 
the  majesty  of  the  style,  the  consent  of  all  the  parts, 
the  scope  of  the  whole  (which  is  to  give  all  glory  to 
God),  the  full  discovery  it  makes  of  the  only  way 
of  man's  salvation,  the  many  other  incomparable 
excellences  and  the  entire  perfection  thereof,  are 
arguments  whereby  it  doth  abundantly  evidence 
itself  to  be  the  word  of  God  ;  yet,  notwithstanding, 
our  full  persuasion  and  assurance  of  the  infallible 
truth,  and  divine  authority  thereof,  is  from  the 
inward  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  bearing  witness  by 
and  with  the  word  in  our  hearts.' 3 

i  1  Cor.  ii.  14,  16  ;  1  John  iv.  1-3. 

2  Calvin,  Instit.  I.  7.  4,  5 ;  Helvet.  and  French  Confessions ;  Owen, 
Biv.  Orig.  of  Script. ,  chs.  ii.  iv.  3  Ch.  i.  5. 


202  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

2.  The  principle  here  enunciated  has  undoubt- 
edly wide  scope,  and  may  be  applied  with  effect  to 
sustain  belief  in  the  inspiration  of  parts  of  Scripture 
which  do  not  of  themselves  directly  make  such  claim 
- — the  Psalms,  e.g.,  or  certain  Epistles,  or  the  Gospels. 
The  New  Testament  Epistles  have  only  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  productions  of  the  post-apostolic 
age,1  or  the  canonical  with  the  apocryphal  Gospels, 
to  see  how  immense — in  the  case  of  the  Gospels  how 
incredibly  great — is  the  descent.  It  is  not  simply 
that  the  Gospels,  as  embodying  the  words  of  Jesus, 
and  narrating  His  acts,  have  a  divineness  that  goes 
beyond  any  dignity  that  inspiration  could  impart ; 
but  the  record  itself,  in  its  simplicity,  manifest 
fidelity,  self-effacement  of  the  human  author,  per- 
vasive sense  of  the  divine  greatness  of  One,  to  the 
significance  for  the  world  of  whose  appearance  the 
wise  men  of  the  age  were  so  utterly  blind,  compels 
the  acknowledgment  that  more  than  human  care  and 
skill  were  involved  in  its  production — that  the 
finger  of  God  is  there  !  If  the  other  internal  evidences 
are  added,2  a  strong  argument  may  be  built  up, 
not  only  for  the  reality  of  revelation  in  Scripture, 
but  for  an  inspiration  in  the  books  in  which  that 
revelation  is  conveyed. 

3.  It  must  still  be  confessed  that  the  principle 
here  employed  may  be  pushed  too  far,  and  made  to 
sustain    conclusions    which    cannot    in    justice    be 

i  The  Early  Fathers,  as  will  be  seen,  were  fully  conscious  of  this 
difference. 

2  In  his  (posthumous)  work  on  Inspiration,  Dr.  F.  Watson,  of 
Cambridge,  justly  lays  stress  on  the  evidence  from  the  Biblical 
Doctrine  of  Sin  (ch.  vii.),  the  Harmony  of  the  Teaching  (viii. ),  the 
Purity  of  the  Teaching  (ix.),  the  Abidingness  of  the  Teaching  (x.), 
etc. 


x.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  203 

rested  on  it.  How,  e.g.,  can  it  legitimately  be  em- 
ployed, taken  by  itself,  to  sustain  the  canonicity,  not 
to  say  the  inspiration,  of  books  like  the  Song  of 
Solomon,  Esther,  or  Ecclesiastes,  which  belong,  in 
the  opinion  of  some,  to  the  lowest  grade  of  inspiration; 
or,  still  further,  to  establish  a  perfectly  '  errorless  ' 
record  ?  x  The  principle,  in  fact,  may  be,  and  often 
has  been,  applied  in  a  quite  opposite  direction,  viz., 
to  warrant  the  rejection  of  all  parts  of  Scripture 
which  do  not  appeal  to  the  individual  mind,  or,  as 
Coleridge  says,  '  find  '  it.  One  recalls  here  Luther's 
rejection  of  the  Epistle  of  James  as  '  an  epistle  of 
straw,'  because  he  did  not  find  in  it  Paul's  doctrine  of 
justification.  Richard  Baxter,  one  of  the  saintliest 
of  men,  thus  wrote  :  '  I  confess,  for  my  part,  I  could 
never  boast  of  any  such  testimony  or  light  of  the 
Spirit  or  reason  ;  neither  of  which,  without  human 
testimony  or  tradition,  would  have  made  me  believe 
that  the  book  of  Canticles  is  canonical  and  written 
by  Solomon,  and  the  book  of  Wisdom  apocryphal 
and  written  by  Philo,  as  some  think,  or  that  Paul's 
Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans  and  others  is  apocryphal, 
and  the  second  and  third  Epistle  of  John  canonical. 
Nor  could  I  ever  have  known  all  or  any  historical 
books,  such  as  Joshua,  Judges,  Ruth,  Samuel,  Kings, 
Chronicles,  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  to  be  written  by  divine 
inspiration,  but  by  tradition,'  etc.2    This  may  be 

1  Cf.  Bannerman,  op.  cit,  pp.  270-1,  who  points  out  this  weakness. 
In  the  view  of  the  present  writer,  the  Book  of  Esther,  which  Dr. 
Sanday  puts  lowest,  gets  scant  justice  from  some  of  its  critics.  It  is 
a  wonderful  record  of  God's  providence.  The  permission  given  to 
the  Jews  to  defend  themselves  (Esth.  viii.  11 ;  ix.  1,  2)  is  not  to 
be  confounded  with  the  decree  to  massacre  issued  earlier  at  the 
instance  of  Haman  (hi.  13).    Cf.  Dr.  Sanday's  note,  op.  cit.,  pp.  222-3. 

2  Preface  to  Second  Part  of  Saints'  Rest. 


204  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  '  [ch. 

felt  to  carry  objection  too  far  on  the  other  side ; 
but  the  fact  that  a  man  like  the  author  of  The  Saints* 
Everlasting  Rest  could  write  in  this  strain  shows  the 
precariousness  of  the  principle  as  one  on  which  to 
rest  the  whole  Biblical  case  for  inspiration.  Many- 
evidences  converge  to  sustain  inspiration — internal 
witness,  testimony  of  the  books,  use  by  other 
Scriptures,  witness  of  Christ  and  His  apostles, 
effects  and  fruits  in  experience  and  history — and  all 
are  to  be  welcomed. 

4.  The  inspiration  which  gives  its  distinctive 
quality  to  Scripture,  as  claimed  for  its  writings  by 
Jesus,  by  prophets  and  apostles,  and  often  by  the 
books  themselves,  is  not  of  a  kind  that  can  properly 
be  paralleled  by  human  genius,  or  even  by  the 
ordinary  illumination  of  Christians.  It  is  some- 
times said  :  '  Isaiah  was  inspired  as  Shakespeare, 
Burns,  Scott,  or  Carlyle  was  ;  Paul  was  inspired 
as  Luther  or  Mazzini  was.'  But  could  any  of  these 
gifted  men  have  prefaced  their  utterances,  as  the 
prophets  did,  with  a  '  Thus  saith  the  Lord '  ;  could 
it  be  said  of  the  greatest  of  them  what  is  said  of  New 
Testament  apostles  and  prophets,  that  a  Church 
was  founded  on  their  witness  ?  '  Built  upon  the 
foundations  of  the  apostles  and  prophets.  .  .  .  The 
mystery  of  Christ,  which  in  other  generations  was  not 
made  known  unto  the  sons  of  men,  as  it  hath  now 
been  revealed  unto  His  holy  apostles  and  prophets  in 
the  Spirit.' 1  The  Spirit  is  given  to  all  Christians, 
but  in  diversity  of  measures,  and  with  specific  gifts. 
And  what  ordinary  Christian  will  feel  that  he  could 
use  language  about  himself  like  the  above  ! 

1  Eph.  ii.  20 ;  iii.  4,  5.     C£  Dr.  Sanday  on  '  Modern  Prophets,' 
op.  cit.,  pp.  166-7. 


x.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  205 


III.  Inspiration  in  History. 

1.  For  further  light  on  the  nature  of  inspiration 
one  turns  naturally  to  history,  to  inquire  what  views 
on  the  subject  have  been  entertained,  inside  the 
Church  and  out  of  it,  at  different  periods.  Ideas 
of  both  revelation  and  inspiration,  as  before  seen, 
are  not  wanting  in  heathenism.  Analogies  drawn 
from  these  foreign  sources,  however,  are  apt  to 
mislead  oftener  than  to  help.  No  heathen  religion 
possesses  that  which  is  the  fundamental  presupposi- 
tion of  Biblical  inspiration — a  living  God,  and  a 
community  within  which  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God 
is  continuously  active.  The  sporadic  oracles  of 
heathenism — pythonic  responses  and  the  like — 
assuming  these  to  be  as  genuine  as  they  were 
generally  spurious,  had  nothing  in  common  with 
this  continuous,  growing  form  of  revelation  through 
chosen,  inspired  organs.  Neither  is  the  analogy 
required  furnished  by  the  '  sacred  books  *  of  other 
religions.  The  '  Rishis '  of  the  Vedas  do  not  claim 
for  themselves  more  than  a  poetical  inspiration. 
Buddha's  '  enlightenment '  was  no  inspiration  from 
above,  for  his  system  had  in  it  no  place  for  either 
God  or  Holy  Spirit.  The  Gathas  or  hymns  which 
form  the  oldest  parts  of  the  Zend-Avesta  are  put 
into  the  mouth  of  Zoroaster.  They  contain  invoca- 
tions and  prayers  for  enlightenment,  and  Ahura 
answers  ;  but  this  is  probably  not  more  than  literary 
form.  The  Confucian  classics  make  no  claim  to 
inspiration.  Mohammed,  of  course,  claims  that  the 
messages  combined  in  the  Koran  were  communicated 
to  him  by  direct  revelation,  and  his  claim  must  be 


206  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

treated  on  its  merits ;  but  few,  treating  it  im- 
partially, will  be  disposed  to  concede  it.  The  Bible 
makes  no  claim  for  the  origin  of  its  books  such  as 
is  made  for  the  Koran — that  their  parts  came  down 
in  external  revelation  from  heaven, — and  the  claim, 
if  made,  could  not  be  entertained. 

2.  Philo  and  Josephus  sufficiently  attest  the 
belief  in  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  among 
the  Jews.  The  early  Rabbis  held  the  same  doctrine.1 
Josephus  connects  inspiration  with  the  prophetic 
gift ;  Philo,  the  earlier  of  the  two,  borrows  from 
heathen  mantic  the  idea  of  ecstasy,  in  which  the 
individuality  of  the  inspired  man  is  wholly 
suppressed,  and  his  soul  reduced  to  pure  passivity. 
This,  it  has  been  seen,  is  far  from  the  conception  of 
inspiration  in  the  Bible  itself.  It  is  a  position  now 
universally  recognised  by  writers  on  the  subject 
that  inspiration  does  not  suppress  individual  genius, 
but  heightens  and  develops  it.  All  the  powers  that 
lie  in  a  man's  natural  endowment,  the  gains  of  his 
training,  the  results  of  his  experience,  are  laid  hold 
of,  and  fused  into  a  new  unity  round  the  central 
point  of  the  new  revelation  that  is  given  to  him. 
Self-consciousness,  the  power  of  self-control,  are  not 
lost.  '  The  spirits  of  the  prophets  are  subject  to 
the  prophets.' 2  This,  too,  in  the  main,  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  early  Church.  That  the  early 
Fathers,  in  the  most  emphatic  way,  maintained  the 
complete  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,   Old 

1  See  in  detail  on  the  teaching  of  Philo  and  Josephus  in  the  works 
on  Inspiration  by  Sanday,  Lee,  Bannerman,  Watson,  etc.  On  the 
Rabbinical  views,  cf.  Sanday,  pp.  80-2,  90:  'What  might  be 
thought  somewhat  strange,  the  disputed  books  [Eccles.,  Song,  Esther] 
seem  to  be  used  quite  as  freely  as  the  rest.' 

a  1  Cor.  xiv.  32. 


x.]  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  207 

Testament  and  New,  no  one  acquainted  with  their 
writings  will  deny  ; l  and  if  the  favourite  illustra- 
tion of  the  lyre  and  plectrum  may  appear  to  lean 
to  a  view  akin  to  Philo's  of  the  suppression  of  the 
human  consciousness,  the  general  trend  of  their 
teaching  will  show  that  this  is  by  no  means  the 
intention.2  Montanism,  which  took  this  view,  was 
rejected.  Origen,  in  particular,  contends  strongly 
against  the  comparison  of  Jewish  prophecy  to  the 
frenzied  utterances  of  the  Pythian  prophetess.3  He 
holds  for  himself  the  strictest  doctrine  of  inspiration, 
getting  over  the  contradictions  and  other  difficulties 
which  he  allows  to  exist  (really,  and  not  merely, 
as  some  say,  '  apparently  ')  in  the  historical  and 
prophetic  parts  by  the  aid  of  his  allegorical  method 
of  interpretation.4 

The  opinions  of  the  Reformers  on  inspiration  have 
frequently  been  discussed.  There  is  a  singular 
breadth  and  modernness  in  Calvin's  exegesis  ;  but 
his  faith  in  the  entire  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures 
is  profound  and  uncompromising.  The  ultimate 
guarantee  of  inspiration,  as  already  seen,  is  found 
by  him  in  the  internal  witness  of  the  Holy  Spirit.5 
The  creeds  of  the  Reformed  Church  embodied  the 
same    conceptions.      Occasionally    divines    carried 

1  The  testimony  of  the  Early  Church  is  very  fully  exhibited  in 
Westcott's  Introd.  to  the  Study  of  the  Gospels,  Appendix  B.  A  long 
catena  of  passages  is  given  in  Lee,  Appendix  G.  Clement  of  Rome 
says:  'The  blessed  Paul  at  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel  in  very 
truth  wrote  by  inspiration'  to  the  Corinthians.  Ignatius  says  :  'I 
do  not  give  you  injunctions  as  Peter  and  Paul;  they  were  apostles, 
I  a  condemned  man.' 

9  Athenagoras  is  an  exception.  He  speaks  of  the  prophets  as 
'entranced  and  deprived  of  their  natural  powers  of  reason.' 

*  Contra  Celsum,  vii.  4. 

4  Be  Princip.  iv.  1 ;  Contra  Cels.  iv.  48.  5  Instit.  I.  7.  4,  5. 


208  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

them  to  extremes  that  never  obtained  general 
sanction.1  Luther's  views,  as  his  ordinary  teaching 
and  use  of  Scripture  show,  were  scarcely  less  high  ; 
but,  applying  a  subjective  standard,  his  judgments 
on  certain  books,  as  the  Epistle  of  James,  Revelation, 
Esther,  even  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  were  rash 
and  arbitrary.2  These  judgments  affected  canonicity 
rather  than  inspiration.  Sometimes  Luther  is 
misjudged,  as,  e.g.,  when  Dr.  F.  Watson  states  : 
'  He  described  the  argument  St.  Paul  derived  from 
Hagar  and  Sarah  in  the  Galatians  as  too  weak  to 
hold.'  3  This  is  a  mistaken  statement,  as  any  one 
will  see  who  reads  what  Luther  really  wrote  on  what 
he  calls  '  this  goodly  allegory,'  '  a  wonderful 
allegory,'  praising  the  apostle  for  his  use  of  it. 
What  he  does  say  is  :  '  For  if  Paul  had  not  proved 
the  righteousness  of  faith  against  the  righteousness 
of  works  by  strong  and  pithy  arguments,  he  should 
have  little  prevailed  by  this  allegory.  But,  because 
he  had  fortified  his  cause  before  with  invincible 
arguments  .  .  .  now,  in  the  end  of  his  disputations, 
he  addeth  an  allegory,  to  give  beauty  to  all  the  rest. 
For  it  is  a  seemly  thing  sometimes  to  add  an 
allegory,'  etc.4  There  is  no  suggestion  of  any 
feebleness  in  Paul's  inspiration. 

Later  views  came  gradually  to  prevail,  especially 
through  Arminian  influence,  and  modern  opinions 

1  E.g.  The  younger  Buxtorf  (followed  by  the  'Formula  Consensus 
Helvetica')  affirmed  the  inspiration  of  the  Hebrew  vowel  points. 

2  '  He  was  as  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  inspiration  and  au- 
thority of  the  Word  of  God  as  the  most  orthodox  divine  can  be,  but 
he  had  free  views  on  the  mode  of  inspiration  and  the  extent  of  the 
traditional  canon '  (Schaff,  Creeds  of  Christendom,  i.  215). 

1  Inspiration,  pp.  232-3. 
*  Com.  on  Gal.  iv.  24,  etc. 


x.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  209 

have  already  been  adverted  to.  Disputes  turn  largely 
in  recent  times  on  what  is  named  '  verbal '  inspira- 
tion, and  on  the  degree  to  which  '  inerrancy/  or 
complete  freedom  from  error  or  contradiction  in 
matters  not  directly  involved  in  the  substance  of 
the  inspired  teaching,  is  implied  in  inspiration. 


IV.  'Verbal  Inspiration.' 

1.  The  phrase  '  verbal  inspiration '  is  one  to 
which  so  great  ambiguity  attaches  that  it  is  now 
very  commonly  avoided  by  careful  writers.1  There 
is,  indeed,  a  sense  in  which  the  phrase  expresses  a 
true  and  important  idea.  It  opposes  the  theory 
that  revelation  and  inspiration  have  regard  only  to 
thoughts  and  ideas,  while  the  language  in  which 
these  ideas  are  clothed  is  left  to  the  unaided  faculties 
of  the  sacred  penman.  This  is  a  defective  view. 
Thought  of  necessity  takes  shape  and  is  expressed 
in  words.  If  there  is  inspiration  at  all,  it  must 
penetrate  words  as  well  as  thought,  must  mould 
the  expression,  and  make  the  language  employed 
the  living  medium  of  the  idea  to  be  conveyed.2  The 
Scripture  lays  stress  upon  the  Kurds — often  on  the 

1  E.g.,  by  Lee,  Bannerman,  etc.  The  former  prefers  'plenary,' 
the  latter  'dynamical.'  Hodge  and  Warfield  defend  the  word 
'verbal,'  but  with  careful  explanation.  'There  is  the  more  excuse,' 
they  say,  'for  this  misapprehension  because  of  the  extremely 
mechanical  conceptions  of  inspiration  maintained  by  many  former 
advocates  of  this  term  "  verbal."  This  view,  however,  we  repudiate 
as  earnestly  as  any  of  those  who  object  to  the  language  in  question  ' 
{op.  cit.  p.  233). 

2  'The  slightest  consideration,'  says  Dr.  Westcott,  'will  show  that 
words  are  as  essential  to  intellectual  processes  as  they  are  to  mutual 
intercourse.  .  .  .  Thoughts  are  wedded  to  words  as  necessarily  as 
soul  is  to  body '  {Study  of  Gospels,  p.  14). 

0 


210  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

very  form  of  the  expression.  c We  speak,'  says 
Paul,  '  not  in  words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth, 
but  which  the  Holy  Spirit  teacheth.' * 

2.  '  Verbal  inspiration,'  however,  is  often  taken 
to  mean  much  more  than  this.  It  is  apt  to  suggest  a 
mechanical  theory  of  inspiration,  akin  to  dictation, 
which  all  intelligent  upholders  of  inspiration  now 
agree  in  repudiating.  In  the  result  it  may  be  held  to 
imply  a  literality  in  narratives,  quotations,  or  reports 
of  discourses,  which  the  facts,  as  we  know  them,  do 
not  warrant. 

(1)  A  very  evident  illustration  of  the  untenable- 
ness  of  this  theory  is  in  the  reports  of  the  Lortfs  own 
sayings  in  the  Gospels.  It  is  well  known  that  in  the 
reports  of  Christ's  words  in  the  Synoptic  Gospels 
there  is  often  a  very  considerable  variation  in 
expression — a  difference  in  phraseology — while  yet 
the  idea  conveyed  in  all  the  forms  is  the  same.  At 
most  one  side  or  another  of  the  truth  is  brought  out 
with  slightly  different  emphasis.  In  illustration,  let 
the  version  of  the  Lord's  sayings  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  in  Matthew  be  compared  with  that  in 
Luke,2  and  the  wide  divergence  in  expression,  with 
identity  in  idea,  will  at  once  be  seen.  Here  the 
advocates  of  verbal  inspiration  are  themselves  com- 
pelled to  recognise  that  absolute  literality  is  not  of 
the  essence  of  inspiration — that  the  end  is  gained  if 
the  meaning  of  the  saying  is  preserved,  though  the 
precise  form  of  words  varies.  There  may  be  com- 
pression, combination,  change  of  construction — 
even  (as  in  John)  interpretation ;  but  the  truth  is 
purely  given. 

(2)  Another  palpable  illustration  of  this  freedom 
i  1  Cor.  ii.  13.  2  Matt,  v.-vii. ;  Luke  vi.  20-40. 


x.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  211 

in  regard  to  the  letter,  while  the  sense  is  accurately 
conveyed,  is  found  in  the  New  Testament  quotations 
from  the  Old  Testament.  In  these,  it  is  again  well 
known,  great  variety  in  the  method  of  quotation 
prevails.  Sometimes,  where  the  end  is  better  served, 
the  quotation  is  taken  directly  from  the  Hebrew 
(e.g.,  Matt.  ii.  15)  ;  occasionally  the  translation  is 
free  (Matt.  ii.  6)  ;  ordinarily  the  quotation  is  made 
with  more  or  less  exactness  from  the  Greek  version — 
this  even  where  the  Hebrew  is  somewhat  widely  de- 
parted from  (Matt.  xii.  17-21  ;  Rom.  ix.  33  ;  1  Pet. 
ii.  6  ;  Heb.  x.  5-7,  etc.).  Inspiration  here  again 
must  be  held  compatible  with  a  want  of  literality 
in  the  words.1 

3.  In  view  of  these  facts,  it  is  felt  by  many  that, 
to  express  the  idea  of  an  inspiration  which  pervades 
all  the  parts  of  the  record,  the  word  '  plenary  '  is  more 
suitable  than  c  verbal.'  This  term,  while  doing  justice 
to  the  freedom  of  the  sacred  writer  in  his  use  of 
language,  argument,  and  illustration,  in  the  employ- 
ment of  his  faculties  in  research,  and  in  his  methods 
of  using  his  material,  avoids  the  mistake  into  which 
others  fall  of  speaking  as  if  parts  of  the  record  were 
inspired,  and  parts  uninspired.  The  passages  usually 
quoted  in  support  of  this  view  are  Paul's  words  in 
1  Cor.  vii.  10,  12,  25  :  '  Unto  the  married  I  give 
charge,  yet  not  I,  but  the  Lord.  .  .  .  But  to  the 
rest  say  I,  not  the  Lord.  .  .  .  Concerning  virgins 
I  have  no  commandment  of  the  Lord,  but  I  give  my 
judgment.'  These  verses,  however,  are  not  valid 
to  establish  any  such  distinction  as  is  alleged.  What 
Paul  means  to  say  is  only  that  he  had  no  direct 
1  command '  from  the  Lord  for  what  he  said — no 
*  See  further  on  this  point,  The  Bible  under  Trial,  pp.  268  ff. 


2L2  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

word  of  Jesus  spoken  while  on  earth — such  as  he  had 
in  the  case  of  marriage.  Yet  Paul  claimed  that  he 
had  '  the  Spirit  of  God '  in  giving  his  judgment  on 
the  cases  before  him ; 1  nay,  goes  so  far  as  to  declare  : 
'  If  any  man  thinketh  himself  to  be  a  prophet,  or 
spiritual,  let  him  acknowledge  of  the  things  which  I 
write  unto  you,  that  they  are  the  commandments  of 
the  Lord.'2 


V.  'Inerrancy'  of  the  Eecord. 

While,  by  most  of  the  older  writers,  the  inspiration 
of  the  entire  record  in  the  Bible  is  strenuously  affirmed, 
great  diversity  of  view  prevails  as  to  the  mode  of  the 
action  of  the  divine  influence  by  which  this  result  is 
secured.  Theories  of  dictation  of  historical  matter, 
or  of  communication  of  facts  that  could  be  ascer- 
tained by  ordinary  methods,  are  now  universally 
surrendered ;  3  the  distinction  of  '  revelation  '  and 
'  inspiration '  is  better  recognised ;  but  whereas 
some  would  lay  chief  stress  on  the  exaltation  of  the 
human  faculties,  and  conscious  direction  and  '  sug- 
gestion,' others  are  content  to  resolve  inspiration 
into  a  divine  '  superintendence,'  often  unconscious, 
leaving  everything  else — and  this  the  greater  part — 

i  Ver.  40.  2  1  Cor.  xiv.  37. 

3  The  slight  qualifications  of  this  which  Dr.  Lee  (p.  147)  and  others 
make,  e.g.,  in  the  supernatural  communication  to  Paul  of  the 
institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper  (Bannerman,  p.  189),  rest  on  a 
misunderstanding.  Paul  undoubtedly  '  received '  the  Lord's  words 
at  the  Supper  from  the  apostles  or  general  tradition. 

Hodge  and  Warfield  lay  stress  on  this  human  side.  '  Each  drew 
from  the  stores  of  his  own  original  information,  from  the  con- 
tributions of  other  men,  and  from  all  other  natural  sources.  Each 
sought  knowledge,  like  all  other  authors,  from  the  use  of  his  own 
natural  faculties  of  thought  and  feeling,'  etc.  (p.  229). 


x.]  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  213 

in  the  production  of  an  '  errorless  '  record  to  '  provi- 
dence.' x  The  question  which  here  arises  is — Does 
the  Bible  itself  claim,  or  inspiration  necessitate, 
such  an  '  errorless '  record,  in  matters  of  minor 
detail  ?  The  discussion  may  close  with  a  few  words 
on  this  subject  of  '  inerrancy.' 

1.  Very  commonly  it  is  argued  by  upholders  of 
this  doctrine  that  '  inerrancy '  in  every  minute 
particular  is  involved  in  the  very  idea  of  a  book 
given  by  inspiration  of  God.  This  might  be  held  to 
be  true  on  a  theory  of  verbal  dictation,  but  it  can 
scarcely  be  maintained  on  a  just  view  of  the  actual 
historical  genesis  of  the  Bible.  One  may  plead, 
indeed,  for  '  a  supernatural  providential  guidance ' 
which  has  for  its  aim  to  exclude  all,  even  the  least, 
error  or  discrepancy  in  statement,  even  such  as 
may  inhere  in  the  sources  from  which  the  information 
is  obtained,  or  may  arise  from  corruption  of  anterior 

1  This  is  the  thesis,  elaborated  with  much  fulness,  of  Hodge  and 
Warfield.  'We  intentionally,'  they  say,  'avoid  applying  to  this 
inspiration  the  predicate  "influence."  It  summoned,  on  occasion,  a 
great  variety  of  influences,  but  its  essence  was  superintendence. 
This  superintendence  attended  the  entire  process  of  the  genesis  of 
Scripture,  and  particularly  the  final  composition  of  the  record.  .  .  . 
The  Scriptures  were  generated  through  sixteen  centuries  of  this 
divinely  regulated  concurrence  of  God  and  man,  of  the  natural  and 
supernatural,  of  reason  and  revelation,  of  providence  and  grace.  .  .  . 
The  natural  knowledge  came  from  all  sources,  as  traditions,  docu- 
ments, testimonies,  personal  observations,  and  recollections,  .  .  . 
yet  all  were  alike  under  the  general  direction  of  God's  providence. 
The  supernatural  knowledge  became  confluent  with  the  natural  in  a 
manner  which  violated  no  law  of  reason  or  of  freedom.  And  through- 
out the  whole  of  His  work  the  Holy  Spirit  was  present,  causing  His 
energies  to  flow  into  the  spontaneous  exercises  of  the  writer's 
faculties,  elevating  and  directing  where  need  be,  and  everywhere 
securing  the  errorless  expression  in  language  of  the  thought  designed 
by  God.     This  last  element  we  call  inspiration '  (pp.  226,  229,  231). 


214  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

documents.  But  this  is  a  violent  assumption  which 
there  is  nothing  in  the  Bible  really  to  support.  It 
is  perilous,  therefore,  to  seek  to  pin  down  faith  to 
it  as  a  matter  of  vital  moment.  Inspiration,  in 
sanctioning  the  incorporation  of  an  old  genealogy, 
or  of  an  historic  document  in  some  respects  defective, 
no  more  makes  itself  responsible  for  these  defects 
than  it  does  for  the  speeches  of  Job's  friends  in  the 
Book  of  Job,  or  for  the  sentiments  of  many  parts 
of  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes,  or  for  the  imperfect 
translation  of  Old  Testament  passages  in  quota- 
tions from  the  Septuagint. 

2.  Even  on  the  assumption  of  a  '  verbal  '  in- 
spiration, it  has  been  seen  in  how  wide  a  sense 
literal  accuracy  in  the  Biblical  records  has  to  be 
interpreted.  The  theory  may  be  stretched,  moreover, 
by  qualifications,  admissions,  and  explanations,  till 
there  is  'practically  little  difference  between  the 
opposite  views.  Thus,  writing  on  the  New  Testa- 
ment quotations,  with  reference  to  the  objection 
of  Dr.  S.  Davidson  that,  on  the  theory  of  verbal 
inspiration,  the  New  Testament  writers  should  have 
adhered  to  the  ipsissima  verba  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  Old  Testament,  seeing  these  were  best,  the 
able  defenders  of  an  '  errorless '  record  already 
repeatedly  cited  remark  :  '  Here,  however,  a  false 
view  of  inspiration  is  presupposed,  and  also  a  false 
view  of  the  nature  and  laws  of  quotation.  Inspira- 
tion does  not  suppose  that  the  words  and  phrases 
written  under  its  influence  are  the  best  possible 
to  express  the  truth,  but  only  that  they  are  an 
adequate  expression  of  the  truth.  Other  words 
and  phrases  might  be  equally  adequate  : — might 
furnish  a  clearer,  more  exact,  and  therefore  better 


x.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  215 

expression,  especially  of  those  truths  which  were 
subordinate  or  incidental  for  the  original  purpose 
of  the  writings.' x  It  would  be  difficult,  however, 
to  show  that  this  superiority  always  belongs  to  the 
LXX.  renderings  adopted.  More  generally,  we  have 
such  wide  acknowledgments  as  the  following : 
'  It  is  not  claimed  that  the  Scriptures  any  more 
than  their  authors  are  omniscient.  The  information 
they  convey  is  in  the  forms  of  human  thought,  and 
limited  on  all  sides.  They  were  not  designed  to 
teach  philosophy,  science,  or  human  history  as 
such.  They  were  not  designed  to  furnish  an 
infallible  system  of  speculative  theology.  They  are 
written  in  human  languages,  whose  words,  inflec- 
tions, constructions,  and  idioms  bear  everywhere 
indelible  traces  of  human  error.  The  record  itself 
furnishes  evidence  that  the  writers  were  in  large 
measure  dependent  for  their  knowledge  upon 
sources  and  methods  in  themselves  fallible,  and  that 
their  personal  knowledge  and  judgments  were  in 
many  matters  hesitating  and  defective,  or  even 
wrong.'  So  much  being  admitted,  it  hardly  seems 
worth  while  to  deny  the  compatibility  of  inspiration 
with  the  possibility  of  minor  errors  also  in  the 
matter  of  the  record.  Yet  '  the  ipsissima  verba 
of  the  original  autographs '  are  held  to  be  free  from 
the  slightest  taint  of  such  error. 

3.  These  things  have  in  justice  to  be  said  on  the 
one  side.  On  the  other  side,  one  finds  himself  in 
substantial  harmony  with  the  defenders  of  this 
view  in  affirming  that  the  sweeping  assertions  of 
error  and  discrepancy  in  the  Bible  often  made 
cannot  be  substantiated.  Ascribe  it  to  '  providence,' 
1  Hodge  and  Warfield,  op.  cit.  p.  266. 


216  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  [ch. 

to  '  superintendence,'  to  '  suggestion,'  or  what  one 
will, — and  inspiration  is  probably  more  subtle  and 
all-pervading  than  any  of  these  things, — it  remains 
the  fact  that  the  Bible,  impartially  interpreted 
and  judged,  is  free  from  demonstrable  error  in  its 
statements,  and  harmonious  in  its  teachings,  to  a 
degree  that  of  itself  creates  an  irresistible  impression 
of  a  supernatural  factor  in  its  origin.  It  is  of  little 
profit  to  discuss  such  a  subject  as  '  inerrancy '  in 
the  abstract.  When  the  objector  descends  from 
generalities  to  details,  one  knows  where  to  find 
him  ;  and  here,  in  cases  without  number,  it  has 
been  shown  by  the  progress  of  knowledge  that  it 
is  he,  not  the  Bible,  that  is  wrong.  Many  of  the 
alleged  discrepancies  are  such  only  in  appearance, 
or  are  readily  explained  by  difference  in  point  of 
view  or  aim,  or  from  technicalities  of  structure, 
as  in  genealogies,  or  from  methods  of  grouping  and 
generalising,  where  precise  detail  is  not  aimed 
at.  Some  are  due  to  corruption  in  the  texts — 
this  frequently  in  names  and  numbers — either  in 
the  existing  texts,  or  possibly  in  the  MSS.  sources 
used  by  the  sacred  writer  himself.  Archaeology 
has  brought  confirmation  to  the  statements  of  the 
Bible,  even  in  its  oldest  parts,  in  a  multitude  of 
particulars  in  which  its  accuracy  had  been  con- 
fidently challenged.  Illustration  of  these  assertions 
has  been  furnished  in  abundance  elsewhere.1  When, 
in  smaller  matters,  discrepancy  is  urged,  as,  e.g.,  in 
the  various  reports  of  the  titles  of  the  Cross,  it  is 
time  for  the  discussion  to  stop. 

4.  On  this  broad,  general  ground  the  advocates 

i  See,  in  illustration,  Prob.  of  0.  T.,  ch.  xi. ;   The  Bible  under 
Trial,  chs.  vi.,  xi. 


x.]  REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  217 

of  '  inerrancy '  may  always  feel  that  they  have  a 
strong  position,  whatever  assaults  may  be  made  on 
them  in  matters  of  lesser  detail.  They  stand 
undeniably,  in  their  main  contention,  in  the  line 
of  apostolic  belief,  and  of  the  general  faith  of  the 
Church,1  regarding  Holy  Scripture.  The  most 
searching  inquiry  still  leaves  them  with  a  Scripture, 
supernaturally  inspired  to  be  an  infallible  guide  in 
the  great  matters  for  which  it  was  given — the 
knowledge  of  the  will  of  God  for  their  salvation  in 
Christ  Jesus,  instruction  in  the  way  of  holiness, 
and  the  '  hope  of  eternal  life,  which  God,  who  cannot 
lie,  promised  before  times  eternal.'  2 


VI.  Conclusion. 

This  leads,  in  closing,  to  the  remark  that,  in  the 
last  resort,  the  proof  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible 
— not,  indeed,  in  every  particular,  but  in  its 
essential  message — is  to  be  found  in  the  life-giving 
effects  which  that  message  has  produced,  wherever 
its  word  of  truth  has  gone.3  This  is  the  truth  in 
the  argument  for  inspiration  based  on  the  witness 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Bible  has  the  qualities 
claimed  for  it  as  an  inspired  book.  These  qualities, 
on  the  other  hand,  nothing  but  inspiration  could 
impart.  It  leads  to  God  and  to  Christ ;  it  gives 
light  on  the  deepest  problems  of  life,  death,  and 
eternity  ;  it  discovers  the  way  of  deliverance  from 
sin ;   it  makes  men  new  creatures  ;   it  furnishes  the 

1  This  is  shown,  as  respects  the  Early  Church,  in  the  copious 
extracts  compiled  by  Dr.  Westcott  and  by  Archdeacon  Lee  in  their 
appendices  to  their  works  formerly  referred  to  (p.  207). 

»  Titus,  i.  2.  »  Col.  L  5,  6. 


218  EEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION 

man  of  God  completely  for  every  good  work.1  That 
it  possesses  these  qualities  history  and  experience 
through  all  the  centuries  have  attested ;  its  saving, 
sanctifying,  and  civilising  effects  among  all  races 
of  men  in  the  world  attest  it  still.  The  word  of 
God  is  a  '  pure  word.' 2  It  is  a  true  and  '  tried ' 
word  ; 3  a  word  never  found  wanting  by  those  who 
rest  themselves  upon  it.  The  Bible  that  embodies 
this  word  will  retain  its  distinction  as  the  Book  of 
Inspiration  till  the  end  of  time  ! 

1  2  Tim.  iii.  17.  a  Pss.  xii.  6 ;  xix.  8 ;  cxix.  140,  etc. 

*  Ps.  xii.  6 ;  xviii.  30. 


REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION  219 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  books  may  be  referred  to  : — 

Rothe,  Zur  Dogmatik,  (Pt.  u.,  'Revelation';  Pt.  in.,  'Holy 

Scripture'),  2nd  Edit.,  1869. 
Ewald,  Revelation:  Its  Nature  and  Record,  E.  T.,  1884. 
Dorner,  A  System  of  Christian  Doctrine,  E.  T.,  vol  ii,  Div. 

in.      ('The   Doctrine   of  Religion,'   'The    Doctrine    of 

Revelation,  1881).' 

Oehler,  Theology  of  the  Old  Testament,  E.  T.,  vol.  i.  (Pt.  I., 
'Of  Revelation'),  1874. 

Auberlen,  The  Divine  Revelation,  E.  T.,  1874. 

Orelli,  Old  Testament  Prophecy  ('Introduction'),  1893. 

A.  B.  Davidson,  Old  Testament  Prophecy,  1903. 

G.  T.  Ladd,  The  Doctrine  of  Sacred  Scripture,  vol.  i.,  1883. 

A.  B.  Bruce,  The  Chief  End  of  Revelation,  1881. 

W.  Lee,  The  Inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture :  Its  Nature  and 
Proof,  1874. 

J.  Bannerman,  Inspiration:  the  Infallible  Truth  and  Divine 
Authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  1865. 

A.  A.  Hodge,  and  B.  B.  Warfield,  Art.  'Inspiration'  in 

The  Presbyterian  Review,  April  1881. 

B.  F.  Westcott,  An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Gospels, 

1872. 

R.  F.  Horton,  Inspiration  and  the  Bible:  An  Inquiry,  1888  ; 
Revelation  and  the  Bible :  an  Attempt  at  Reconstruc- 
tion, 1892  ;   Verbum  Dei,  1893. 

W.  Sandat,  Inspiration  (Banipton  Lectures),  1893. 

J.  M.  Gibson,  The  Inspiration  and  Authority  of  Holy 
Scripture,  1908. 

D.  M.  M'Intyre,  The  Spirit  in  the  Word,  1908. 


INDEX 


Ancestor-Worship,  4,  32,    35, 

65. 
Angel  of  the  Lord,  84  ff. 
Animism,  5,  32. 
Apocalypse,  82,  98,  194. 
Arnold,  M.,  117,  133. 
Athenagoras,  207. 
Auberlen,  C.  A.,  69,168. 
Augustine,  34,  85,  90. 

Bannerman,  J.,  22,  24,   198-9, 

206,  209,  212. 
Baxter,  R,  203. 
Bible,  unity  and  uniqueness  of, 

12,  16,  72;   Gospel  in,  18  ff.; 

claim  to  inspiration,  181  ff.    See 

Scripture. 
Biedermann,  A.  E.,  2,  9. 
Bousset,   W.,  4,  11,   12,  31  ff. ; 

107-8. 
Bruce,  A.  B.,  21-2,  23,  48,  148. 
Buddhism,  33,  205. 
Butler,    Bishop,    61,    102,    106, 

120. 
Buxtorf,  208. 

Calvin,  J.,  59,  149,  201,  207. 

Carlyle,  T.,  7. 

Christianity,  'modern'  views  of, 

11,    33,    132    ff.  ;    evangelical 

views  of,  18  ff,  140  ff. 
Cleanthes,  44. 
Clement  of  Rome,  207. 


Coleridge,  S.  T.,203. 

Confucius,  33,  205. 

Cornill,  C.  H.,  10. 

Creation,     revelation    in,    28   ff., 

39  ff.,  43ff.,47ff. 
Criticism  of  Old  Testament,  13  ff. , 

17,  71  ff  ;  of  Gospels,  132  ff. 

Davidson,  A.  B.,  14,  94. 

Samuel,  214. 

Davis,  J.  D.,  167. 
Deism,  7,  29-31. 
Delitzsch,  F.,  85,  87. 
Difficulties    in    Old    Testament, 

101  ff. 
Dillmann,  A.,  15. 
Divination,  53,  78,  88. 
Dorner,  I.  A.,  2,  9,  18,  24,  60-1, 

68-9,  72. 
Dreams,  revelation  in,  79-80. 
Driver,  S.  R,  14. 
Duhm,  B.,  10. 

Ethnic  revelation,  55  ff. 
Evangelical  -  positive      tendency, 

17  ff. 
Evolution,  34ff.,42. 
Ewald,  G.  H.  A.  v. ,  27-8,  89. 

Fairbairn,  A.  M.,  24. 

P.,  77,  100,167. 

Fetishism,  4,  5,  32,  35  ff. 
Foster,  G.  B.,  107,  135. 

221 


222 


REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION 


God,  immanence  and  transcen- 
dence of,  7  ff.  ;  self-revealing, 
2ff.,  40,  50  ff.,  57  ff.,  67  ff. 

Goethe,  7,  163. 

Green,  W.  H.,  167. 

Gunkel,  H.,  2,  10. 

Hartmann,  E.  von,  3. 

Heathenism,  need  of  revelation, 
53  ff.  ;  nature  of  revelation  in, 
56  ff.,  164  ff. 

Hegel,  3,  40. 

Hengstenberg,  E.  W.,  91,  100, 
171. 

Herder,  9,  167. 

Herrmann,  W.,  4,  30. 

History,  place  and  value  in  revela- 
tion, 21-2,  67  ff,  174. 

Hodge,  A.  A.,  22-3,  25,  167,  198, 
209,  212  ff. 

Hume,  D.,  115  ff.,  122  ff. 

Huxley,  T.  H.,117. 

Ignatius,  207. 

Inspiration,  changes  in  views  of, 
22  ff.  ;  in  Scripture,  19,  156, 
159  ff.  ;  in  relation  to  person, 
162-3;  to  materials,  163  ff., 
179  ff.  ;  to  literary  forms, 
169  ff.  ;  limitations  of,  175  ff. ; 
views  of  Jesus  and  Apostles, 
182  ff.  ;  in  Old  Testament, 
181  ff.,  185  ff. ;  in  New  Testa- 
ment, 192  ff.  ;  nature  of,  161-2, 
199,  204,  209  ff. ;  in  history, 
205  ff.  ;  relation  to  providence, 
23,  163,  213  ;  '  verbal '  inspira- 
tion, 209  ff.  ;  inerrancy,  73, 
199,  203,  212  ff. ;  test  of,  217. 

Irenaeus,  86. 

Israel,  religion  of,  divergent  views 
on,  71  ff. 


Jesus  Christ,  modern  views  of, 
131  ff.  ;  self-consciousness  of, 
134  ff.  ;  sinlessness  of,  135  ff.  ; 
claims  of,  137  ff.  ;  miracles  of, 
118, 121-2, 124, 128, 138 ;  resur- 
rection of,  140-1;  divine  dignity 
of,  141  ;  absoluteness  of  revela- 
tion of,  141,  146  ;  relation  to 
secular  interests,  142  ff. ;  teach- 
ing of,  144  ff.  ;  humiliation  of, 
147  ff.  ;  human  knowledge  of, 
149  ff. 

Josephus,  186,  206. 

Justin  Martyr,  59,  86. 

Kant,  30,  40,  52. 

Kautzsch,  E.,  14-15,  69. 

Keil,  C.  F.,  100,  171. 

Kingdom  of  God,  52,  60,  93,  98, 

100,  128  ;  Christ's  teaching  on, 

143  ff. 
Kirkpatrick,  A.  F.,  191. 
Kittel,  K,  15. 
Kuenen,  A.,  10. 

Laed,  G.  T.,  24,  64  ff. 

Lang,  A.,  41. 

Laws  of  nature,  110  ff. ,  114  ff. 

Lecky,  W.  E.  H.,  119. 

Lee,  W.,  22,  24,  206-7,  209,  212, 

217. 
Lessing,  9,  48. 
Logos,  the,  58,  86-7. 
Loisy,  Abbe,  11. 
Luther,  34,  203-4,  208. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  44. 
Martineau,  J.,  113. 
Mazzini,  142. 
Messianic  prophecy,  98. 
Mill,  J.  S.,  142. 

Miracle,  denial  of,  6,  8  ff.,  109  ff. ; 
Biblical  and  scientific  ideas  of, 


INDEX 


223 


110  ff;  possibility  of,  112  ff.  ; 
credibilty  of,  116  If.  ;  historicity 
of,  120  ff.  ;  character  of  Biblical 
miracles,  126  ff.  ;  Jesus  the 
supreme  miracle,  131  ff. ;  miracle 
and  law,  114  ff.  ;  testimony  and 
miracle,  117  ff,  123  ff.,  126  ff. ; 
of  Jesus,  118,  121-2,  124,  128, 
138. 

'  Modern '  School,  6,  11,  12,  33-4, 
47,  71,  107,  131  ff,  149. 

Mohammedanism,  37,  205. 

Monotheism,  in  heathenism,  36-7; 
primitive,  65-6. 

Moody,  D.  L.,  172. 

Miiller,  Max,  41. 

Nature,  uniformity  of,  11, 110  ff. , 

115  ff. 
New    Testament,    fulfilment    of 

Old  Testament  in,  14,  15, 18  ff., 

98-9,     137-8 ;    inspiration    of, 

192  ff 
Nietzsche,  F.  146. 

Oehler,  G.  F.,  79,  87,  89. 

Old  Testament,  critical  theories 
of,  13  ff,  17,  71  ff  ;  Gospel  in, 
18  ff.  ;  historical  element  in, 
22,  67  ff.,  73  ;  inspiration  of, 
161,  181  ff. 

Orelli,  Conrad  v.,  54,  88,  90. 

Origen,  59,  207. 

Ottley,  R.  L.,  105,  191. 

Otto,  R.,  42. 

Owen,  J.,  201. 

Palet,  53. 

Pantheism,  27. 

Patriarchal  age,  61-3,  69,  71,  73. 

Prophecy,  14  ff.,  32-3,  35-6,  75  ff. ; 

nature  of,   88  ff.  ;  predictive, 

96,  97  ff. 


Polytheism,  35,  37,  66,  69. 
Providence,   relation  to  inspira- 
tion, 23,  163,  213. 

Riehm,  E.,  91. 

Religion,  origin  in  revelation, 
2  ff,  40,  64;  natural  and  re- 
vealed, 6  ff.,  28  ff.  ;  Bousseton, 
31  ff.  ;  ground  in  man's  nature, 
5,  32,  40 ;  a  personal  relation, 
48  ff. ;  in  heathenism,  49,  53, 
55  ff. 

1  Religious-historical '  school,  3, 
11  ff,  31  ff.,  131  ff. 

Resurrection  of  Christ,  140-1. 

Revelation,  in  modern  thought. 
2  ff.  ;  universalising  of,  3  ff., 
31  ff. ;  general  and  special,  28  ; 
natural  revelation,  27  ff.,  39  ff.  ; 
sufficiency  of  same,  43  ff.  ; 
ethnic  revelation,  55  ff.  ;  primi- 
tive revelation,  64  ff.  ;  special 
revelation,  need  of,  46  ff:  ; 
periods  in,  67  ff.  ;  Moses  and 
Christ,  74  ff.  ;  forms  of,  78 ; 
prophecy  in,  88  ff  ;  difficulties 
in,  101  ff. ;  miracle  in,  109  ff. ; 
Christ  as  supreme  Revealer, 
131  ff.  ;  revelation  and  inspira- 
tion, 23-4,  199  ff .  ;  relation  to 
record,  21,  155  ff,  196  ff.  ;  ex- 
tension of  idea  of,  25,  156  ff. 

Ritschl,  A.,  30,  40,  75. 

Rothe,  R.,  21-2,  24. 

Sabatier,  L.  Auguste,  32. 
Sanday,  W.,  13, 14, 115, 161, 192, 

203-4,  206. 
Schaff,  P.,  208. 
Schelling,  3,  69. 
Schleiermacher,  2,  9,  41. 
Schmiedel,  P.  W.,  135. 
Schultz,  H..  16,  87. 


224 


KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION 


Seeley,  Sir  J.  R.,  27. 
Seneca,  44. 
Smith,  G.  A.,  15. 
Smith,  W.  Robertson,  70. 
Socrates,  33,  44,  54-5. 
Spencer,  H.,  27. 
Spinoza,  9. 
Stade,  B.,  10. 
Strauss,  D.  F.,  27. 
Supernatural,    meaning  of,  6  ff. 
See  Miracle. 

Teleology,  in  revelation,  12,  14, 

15,  72. 
Tertullian,  86. 
Testimony  to  miracle,  114, 116  ff., 

120  ff.,  126  ff. 


Totemism,  4,  35,  65. 

Vision,  in  revelation,  80  ff.  ;  in 
prophecy,  82-3,  100. 

Waitz,  41,  65. 

Warfield,  B.   B.,   22-3,   25,  198, 

209,  212-13. 
Watson,  F.,  202,  206,  208. 
Watson,  Prof.  J.,  11,  40. 
Wellhausen,  J.,  10,  80. 
Wernle,  P.,  11. 
Westcott,  B.  F.,  23-4,  105,  207t 

209,  217. 

Zeller,  Eduard,  64. 
Zoroaster,  33,  205. 


Studies  in  Theology 

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A  CRITICAL  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

By  Arthur  Samuel  Peake,  D.D.,  Professor  of  Biblical  Exegesis 
and  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Theology,  Victoria  University,  Man- 
chester. Sometime  Fellow  of  Merton  College,  Oxford.  Author  of 
"A  Guide  to  Biblical  Study,"  "The  Problem  of  Suffering  in  the 
Old  Testament,"  etc.  [Ready. 

FAITH  AND  ITS  PSYCHOLOGY.  By  the  Rev.  William  R.  Inge, 
D.D.,  Lady  Margaret  Professor  of  Divinity,  Cambridge,  and 
Bampton  Lecturer,  Oxford,  1899.  Author  of  "  Studies  of  the 
English  Mystics,"  "  Truth  and  Falsehood  in  Religion,"  "  Personal 
Idealism  and  Mysticism,"  etc.  [Ready. 

PHILOSOPHY  AND  RELIGION.  By  the  Rev.  Hastings  Rash- 
dall,  D.Litt.  (Oxon.),  D.C.L.  (Dunelm),  F.B.A.  Fellow  and 
Tutor  of  New  College,  Oxford.  Author  of  "  The  Theory  of  Good 
and  Evil,"  etc.,  etc.  [Ready. 


REVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION.  By  the  Rev.  James  Orr, 
D.D.,  Professor  of  Apologetics  in  the  Theological  College  of  the 
United  Free  Church,  Glasgow.  Author  of  "  The  Christian  View 
of  God  and  the  World,"  "  The  Ritschlian  Theology  and  Evangelical 
Faith,"  "The  Problem  of  the  Old  Testament,"  etc.  [Ready. 

AN  ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  THEOLOGY.  By  the  Rev.  A.  M.  Fair- 
bairn,  D.D.,  D.Litt.,  LL.D.,  Principal  of  Mansfield  College,  Oxford. 
Author  of  "  Studies  in  the  Life  of  Christ,"  "  Religion  in  History  and 
in  Modern  Life,"  "  Christ  in  Modern  Theology,"  etc. 

A  CRITICAL  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 

By  the  Rev.  George  Buchanan  Gray,  D.D.,  D.Litt.,  Professor 
of  Hebrew  and  Old  Testament  Exegesis,  Mansfield  College,  Oxford. 
Author  of  "  The  Divine  Discipline  of  Israel,"  "  Studies  in  Hebrew 
Proper  Names,"  etc. 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOCIAL  PROBLEMS.  By  the  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Cunningham,  D.D.,  F.B.A.,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge. Hon.  Fellow  of  Gonville  and  Caius  College,  Cambridge. 
Archdeacon  of  Ely.  Formerly  Lecturer  on  Economic  History  to 
Harvard  University.  Author  of  "  Growth  of  English  History  and 
Commerce,"  etc. 

HISTORY  OF  CHRISTIAN  THOUGHT  FROM  THE  APOS- 
TOLIC AGE  TO  THE  REFORMATION,  By  Herbert  B. 
Workman,  D.Litt.,  Principal  of  the  Westminster  Training  College. 
Author  of  "The  Church  of  the  West  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  "The 
Dawn  of  the  Reformation,"  etc. 

HISTORY  OF  CHRISTIAN  THOUGHT  FROM  THE  REFOR= 
MATION  TO  KANT.  By  A.  C.  McGiffert,  PhD.,  D.D.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Church  History  in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New 
York.  Author  of  "  The  History  of  Christianity  in  the  Apostolic 
Age,"  and  "The  Apostles'  Creed," 

HISTORY  OF  CHRISTIAN  THOUGHT  SINCE  KANT.    By  the 

Rev.  Edward  Caldwell  Moore,  D.D.,  Parkman  Professor  of 
Theology  in  Harvard  University.  Author  of  "  The  New  Testa- 
ment in  the  Christian  Church,"  etc. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  HOPE:  A  STUDY  IN  THE  DOCTRINE 
OF  THE  LAST  THINGS.  By  William  Adams  Brown,  Ph.D., 
D.D.,  Professor  of  Systematic  Theology  in  the  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  New  York.  Author  of  "The  Essence  of  Christianity," 
and  "  Christian  Theology  in  Outline." 

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